Of Spirits and Pomegranates
by McPasstel
Summary: Staring at the rapidly expanding pool of blood inching its way towards him; Sasuke thinks that this is the first time in his life he's ever been awake. (reincarnation fic)
1. Awake

Sasuke is curled up on the floor of his living room, winded and looking into the eyes of the corpses of his parents. The images Itachi had forced onto him play over an over again behind his eyelids and without the aid of the tsukyomi.

Staring at the rapidly expanding pool of blood inching its way towards him; Sasuke thinks that this is the first time in his life he's ever been awake.

He, no her because he remembers being her but then no, that's not right either. Sasuke is himself but there's something else inside of him now too, or rather, someone else. Memories of wearing cotton dresses and wool socks and working ridiculous hours to save up for a camera surface in Sasuke's mind.

He doesn't know if he understands some of the memories, doesn't know if he understands why he would stress over freckles on his face or why he would bleed between his legs sometimes.

His brother steps over the bodies of their parents and stands over him. Sasuke is so confused, to much is happening inside his head at once and he can't grasp onto a coherent thought long enough to make sense of anything.

His brother grabs him by his arm, hauling him up with an unrelenting grip that has his bones creaking under the strain.

"Aren't you scared, little brother?" he taunts, shaking him roughly to get his attention, "Don't you want to run away?"

Sasuke's face is wet with tears and he tries desperately to claw at the hand holding him.

 _I don't understand,_ he wails, _I don't understand what's happening; I'm so confused._

Itachi's face flickers with some unreadable emotion before smoothing back out into that cold mask. His brother, who gave him piggyback rides and hugged his nightmares away, tosses him back down to the floor into the blood of their parents.

Sasuke gags as the congealing liquid sloshes up onto his face and arms.

He remembers being a girl and being in a pool of blood. He hadn't understood why people hurt others then and he doesn't understand now.

His brother says something about him not being worth the time or energy to kill and tells him to come seek him out when he's stronger.

His brother closes the door behind himself when he leaves and Sasuke waits before crawling forward to wrap his arms around the body of his mother. She's already cold and he's never felt more pathetic.

He's there for hours before someone notices what's happened to the Uchiha clan and the village sirens are going off. He's there for even longer before ANBU come searching through the house.

He's covered in so much blood that the ANBU operative that had knelt down to move his body startles when he twitches. They carefully pry him off the floor and he wiggles in their firm grip, trying to get them to let him go.

The operative must signal to someone because moments later a medic is entering the room and wrapping him up in a thick blanket and disappearing with him.

Sasuke is still so lost and confused even after they've cleaned him up and put him in an empty hospital bed.

...

Kakashi felt a deep shame when he'd stepped into the compound to help identify and clear up the bodies. He hadn't meant to fail Itachi in such a way.

He passes by the long row of corpses that are placed along the main street of the compound. Operatives are going in and out of houses bringing with them everyone from the elderly to tiny little babies who were slaughtered in their cribs.

He's been given the task of collecting the corpses of the main family.

The house reeks of blood before he even enters and it has him breathing through his mouth while he searches the rooms for the bodies.

The corpses are piled together in the living room and the floor is sticky with blood. He catches sight of a tiny body curled up next to the corpse of Uchiha Mikoto and he feels his heart drop.

He had thought that Itachi had loved that boy so dearly and it's horrid to think he would hurt him.

Kakashi kneels down to start moving the bodies to the street when the little boy twitches and his too-big eyes are looking up at him with a glassy sort of confusion. It nearly scares him enough to react violently but he quashes down the instinct and instead carefully snakes his fingers under the boy's arms and peals him off the floor.

The boy hardly reacts, only wiggling a bit in his hold, and Kakashi doesn't need to be a Yamanka to know the kid is coming off of what must have been hours of psychological torture and trauma.

He flares his chakra and an ANBU medic comes rushing in.

ANBU Dove is a tiny mouse of a woman and she's fairly old for the black ops but she's always been stern and reliable. Even though she's wearing a mask Kakashi can pick out the minute twitches of her muscles that tells him she's horrified at the sight of, so far, the only living Uchiha to make it out of this massacre. She unseals a thick blanket and carefully wraps it around the boy before cradling him gently in her arms. She signs to Kakashi before disappearing to take the boy to the hospital.

He looks back down at the Uchiha head and his wife and gets started on dragging their bodies out to the street.

...

Inoichi had been busy with the search for Itachi and so he hadn't been available to interview young Sasuke when he was found alive. Two weeks later, the T&I members that had been sent come back and suddenly the Yamanaka head is the last resort to get the little boy to talk.

Sasuke is morose and confused most days, although he doesn't talk about it. ANBU stationed on his guard and medical personal have observed the boy stumbling about his hospital room in a daze and say that he reacts poorly to seeing his own reflection.

ANBU Bear thinks that Sasuke has been not letting himself go to the bathroom, either, and that the boy just holds it in for hours. Whatever would cause a kid to fear looking at his own body like that doesn't sit well with Inoichi.

Sasuke is a child and this tragedy has stripped him of that part of himself. So, Inoichi splurges and buys a very expensive teddy bear that's made from alpaca fur from that one toy store his daughter has always loved. He also buys a few different kinds of coloring books and a large pack of crayons.

Sasuke latches onto that bear so quickly that Inoichi chuckles. Once the kid is certain his new toy isn't going to be taken away from him anytime soon, he starts curiously leafing through the coloring books.

"I know that it's probably pretty boring in here most of the time so I thought you would like something to keep you busy until you're released," Inoichi explains and doesn't miss the way Sasuke's eyes keep darting to the more feminine floral themed coloring book but purposely avoiding it in favor of the ninja themed one currently in his hands.

Sasuke gives him a meek smile of gratitude and burrows his face into the fur of the bear. Inoichi would bet his left foot that no one had even so much as given the kid a hug since the massacre.

Inoichi doesn't outright interrogate the kid, already knowing that Sasuke is wildly distrustful of everyone that interacts with him. So, instead, he sits there with Sasuke in silence for a few hours and colors.

Inoichi pulls the floral themed coloring book towards himself and points to the images, "I love flowers; did you know that me and my family run a flower shop?"

Sasuke shakes his head.

"When I was a child I used to get teased for how girly I was," he admits while grabbing a lavender crayon to color in the blooms of the Wisteria on the page, "There's nothing wrong with liking flowers, though, they hold a lot of important cultural significance that people tend to overlook."

Sasuke has set his crayon down and is giving him his full attention so he continues, "Did you know that flowers can be used to send messages to people?"

Sasuke hesitates before slowly shaking his head, looking curious about the subject.

"It's true. If you arrange the flowers into a certain style of bouquet, you can says anything from 'get well soon' to 'I want to poison you'."

Sasuke giggles a bit at that and Inoichi smiles and pushes the book towards Sasuke. The boy bites his lips as parses through whatever it is he's thinking about before he slowly accepts the book and starts to color in the flowers.

As he goes, his shoulders lose a bit of tension and Inoichi feels successful in getting Sasuke to open up even if it's only a fractional amount.

"I want to go home," Sasuke whispers at some point and Inoichi nearly misses it because the boy tries to cover his words with the sound of the page in his coloring book turning.

Inoichi gives him an apologetic smile, "I know you do. We're working really hard on getting things in order so that it's safe for you to do that."

Sasuke shifts positions and Inoichi frowns before glancing at the clock on the wall. He's been here for hours and Sasuke hasn't gone to the bathroom once. The man knows from experience that kids' bladders could only hold so much for so long.

"Do you need to go to the bathroom, Sasuke-kun?" he asks kindly, hoping that by broaching this subject his hard work doesn't backtrack.

Sasuke flinches and curls in on himself ever so slightly. He shakes his head fervently.

The man doesn't miss the way Sasuke squirms in his bed.

"You're going to make yourself sick if you keep this up," he says with a sigh, "Is there a reason you don't want to go to the bathroom?"

Sasuke shrugs and refuses to look over at him, instead he very intensely starts to color again, what once was clean and methodical is now messy and erratic.

"Are you scared of being alone? Is that why you don't want to go to the bathroom?"

Sasuke doesn't acknowledge the question and keeps coloring.

Eventually the man, with the help of a nurse on staff, wrangles Sasuke towards the bathroom. The kid is fighting and kicking the whole way and Inoichi can say for certain he's never seen someone act like this before.

The nurse looks equally as confused.

"It's okay sweetie," she coos gently, "Do you want me to go with you? Yamanaka-sama can wait outside."

Sasuke hesitates but finally agrees and the nurse reports to Inoichi later that Sasuke had struggled to build up the courage to go to the bathroom and when he did he chose to sit on the seat instead of standing like most men do.

He's got a suspicion as to why but he doesn't bring it up in the kid's file choosing to let Sasuke come to them if he wants to.

...

After days of persistently spending time with Sasuke in his hospital room, the boy eventually talks about the massacre.

He doesn't say much, and Inoichi knows they're not going to get any more out of him, but what they did get is helpful.

"Everyone was already dead when I got home," Sasuke says while burying his face into his bear's stomach, "Big brother did something with his eyes and made me watch over and over and over again."

Inoichi rubs a gentle hand over the boy's back, "What happened next?"

Sasuke stares up at him with a haunted, glassy-eyed look that the man has only ever seen from shinobi who have seen the worst of the worst.

"I woke up."

...

ANBU drop Sasuke off at his compound and leave without a word. He stares at the front gates for over an hour before he feels brave enough to go inside.

It's a ghost town and back when Sasuke was her instead of him, she had visited an abandoned town once to take pictures of the crumbling architecture. It had been haunting then and is horrifying now because the ghosts that lingered were his family.

A clean up crew has gone through and removed the corpses and the worst of the blood stains but they didn't do a very good job because flecks of brown still paint the sidings of businesses and houses. There's a distinctly sour smell to the air as well that tells Sasuke the blood that seeped into cracks has been festering and he doesn't want to know what his own house must smell like.

He clutches the teddy bear the interrogator gave him and edges along to go home.

His living room is a lost cause, he discovers. The blood has seeped into the floor boards so badly that some of them are warped or expanded. The walls have had a good scrub down but the arterial spray from his father has stained the white paint ever so faintly.

Sasuke closes up the room and tries to move on.

Itachi's room is a disaster. His mattress has been dragged onto the floor and his clothes and things are strung about. ANBU had been searching for any clues but had clearly come up short.

Sasuke carefully rights everything before going to his own room.

His house is so quiet now, and it frightens him.

He'll have to return to the academy tomorrow morning but he feels so hollow as if his organs have all been scooped out. Memories from his other life tell him that this is depression he's feeling and that he should be outraged that the village is just dumping him back into the place where his family was slaughtered.

He doesn't have the energy to be angry, though, not even with Itachi.


	2. Voice Box

Kakashi pauses just past the gates of the compound and looks around himself in despair. What once had been a neat and proud district is now decrepit and succumbing to the elements.

The grass is about knee high in some areas and the houses are crumbling away bit by bit.

Hiruzen puffs his pipe, "Terrible, isn't it?"

Kakashi just stiffly nods and they continue on. The Hokage elects to stay outside while Kakashi tours the main house, which, while in better condition than the surrounding buildings, is also quite derelict.

The entire place reeks like cats and it makes his nose twitch. Hiruzen had mentioned that Sasuke had adopted a few cats to keep him company but the cats must have rubbed themselves absolutely everywhere to make the scent this strong.

The living room where Kakashi had found the corpses all those years ago is closed up and when he slides the door open with some resistance, he frowns at the state. The floorboards are haphazardly torn up and dead insects litter every available surface. He closes the room back up and continues on.

The only rooms in the house that aren't falling into disrepair are the kitchen, bathroom, and Sasuke's bedroom.

The kid's mattress is stripped bare and a little digging reveals that the kid sleeps in his closet. A little nest of blankets and cushions takes up the cramped space and he concludes that Sasuke must keep his clothes in the wardrobe in the corner of the room.

Kakashi sighs and moves to investigate the state of the clothes in the wardrobe. Amongst the various dark hoodies and shirts are a few pastel colored dresses. He runs his fingers over the delicate materials before closing the closet.

This kid needed someone who wasn't him, but orders were orders and Kakashi would do his best to not fail him the way he failed his brother.

He meets the Hokage back outside and the man continues to smoke his pipe while Kakashi runs his fingers over cracked siding.

"How long until he gets his inheritance?" Kakashi asks.

"When he's officially a genin."

Kakashi blows a raspberry and runs his fingers through his hair, "So, if I fail him, he'll continue to live in squalor. Great."

Hiruzen starts leading them back to the gates, "His ancestors are cursing us from their graves."

Kakashi kicks a wayward gutter out of his path and privately agrees.

Several pairs of eyes watched the two men leave and a fat, orange tomcat mutters to the others, "We'll have to tell Boss about this."

...

When Kakashi receives the files on his students later that night, Sasuke's and Naruto's are literal binders of information. Naruto's is filled with reports of pranking and an abysmal academic career. Minato-sensei had been a genius but his son was about as intelligent as a brick.

Sasuke's binder, in juxtaposition, is filled with increasingly worrying psychological evaluations. The kid was one screw loose away from going off the deep end.

Kakashi hasn't seen Itachi's little brother since the day he'd found the boy curled up with his parents' corpses.

The tiny photograph included in the preteen's file is very telling about what kind of person he is. The kid looks like he's ready for the weather in a place like Snow Country rather than the mild temperatures in Fire Country. He wears a black beanie and a big grey coat that make him look broader than he actually is.

There's also a thrice-underlined comment below his photograph.

'Doesn't speak.'

Kakashi sighs and dreads having to be this kid's sensei.

….

Sasuke is so terrified that someone will find out his secret, that they'll realize he's not him but actually her and it paralyzes him. He finds himself incapable of forming words in front of others now, scared that something in his voice will tip everyone around him off.

So, he stays resolutely silent. Only one of his teachers is kind and understanding to his muteness but the other, Mizuki-sensei, uses it as an excuse to punish him regularly.

Sasuke doesn't really care; he only cares about sleeping anymore.

One day he stays late at the academy, serving a detention for Mizuki-sensei for refusing to answer a question verbally, and it's starting to get dark by the time he's heading home.

The compound is a terrifying thing at night, now. The streetlights have been cut off to save money that Sasuke can't afford to spend with his meager orphan funds. The houses and business loom over him as he walks and it almost feels like that night again. He half expects Itachi to come sliding out of the darkness to cut him up like he did the rest of their family.

Even going inside his house does nothing to quash the feelings of evil scary dark.

Sasuke ends up hiding in his closet most nights, terrified of the eerie emptiness that clings to everything around him.

That darkness follows him in his daily life, now, as deep bags appear under his eyes. If anyone notices, they don't say anything and he feels helpless.

Sasuke has to learn many new things now that he's alone. His mother had always taken care of the finances and cleaning and upkeep of the house. There's no one to help him when he gets his envelopes in the mail with his orphan funds. No one is there to show him how to care for the massive estate that's been left to him.

The only reprieve is the memories from when he was her. She had been very self sufficient and its the only thing keeping Sasuke from falling off the deep end.

He still lets a good majority of the main house and the entirety of the Uchiha compound go, though. He barely has the energy to eat most days and none to spare for damaged siding and dust bunnies.

Things are quiet now.

...

Sasuke tries to move out of the compound at some point and gets Iruka-sensei to help him draft a formal request to send in to make it happen. Sasuke is so hopeful and has daydreams about finding an apartment with lots of neighbors.

Two weeks later he gets a copy of Konoha's law in the mail as a response. The section decreeing that all Uchiha are to live in the Uchiha district has been underlined thrice.

Sasuke thinks that he doesn't want to be him anymore, that he'd much rather be her. She never had to live in the graveyard of her ancestors.

They get two weeks of break between each term and Sasuke doesn't know what to do with himself now that he doesn't have classes to distract him. Before the massacre he would use his breaks to train, but now he spends more time sleeping than anything else.

It's only two days before they have to return to the academy that Sasuke decides to try and clean his living room. The room smells foul and there are piles of dead flies everywhere.

The floorboards are a lost cause and no matter how much he scrubs; the stains won't come out. In a fit, he starts ripping them out, board by board until his hands go numb and he's shaking too much to get a good grip.

He wipes his face messily onto his shirtsleeve and gasps for breath between each sob.

Sasuke gets another detention his first day back and he just hopes that he'll be able to leave before it gets dark.

Mizuki leaves the room to go do something else and it's just Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto left.

The blonde keeps sending him odd looks that have his patience running thin. Naruto must have even less, because before Sasuke can snap Naruto asks, "Hey, what happened to your hands?"

Sasuke looks down at them. Four of his fingernails have been ripped off completely and his palms and fingers are swollen and bruised from the abuse, as well as the countless splinters that Sasuke has been unable to dig out yet.

He just shrugs as an answer. Naruto huffs in annoyance and mumbles under his breath something about Sasuke being too good for anyone else.

 _You're wrong,_ Sasuke thinks, _I'm not good enough for anyone; why else would they leave me to rot with the blood in my living room?_

...

Sasuke stops spending time in his compound. He takes to wandering the streets and alleyways of Konoha for hours, either until it's time for class again or until he passes out on a bench from exhaustion.

He had once prided himself on his cleanliness but now can't seem to care and lets himself be a dirty kid like a good majority of boys in his class. His hair starts to grow past his shoulders and he tells himself it's because he can't be bothered to get a haircut. It's a lie but it's always easier to pretend that he's him and not her, he thinks.

Iruka-sensei frowns in his direction a lot now, and Sasuke uses his orphan funds to buy an oversized hoody rather than food so that he can hide in the fabric from too-suspicious eyes.

One day, after a particularly rough time in detention, Sasuke decides to go to the village pound to hopefully look for a parrot. He entertains ideas of training a bird to speak for him so that he doesn't have to be scared ever again.

They don't have any parrots but they do have a big old bloodhound that sags lazily in the corner of his kennel.

A girl, clearly an employee, approaches him with a smile.

"Looking for a pet?"

Sasuke shrugs at the question. The girl, Hana she introduces herself as, hums thoughtfully as they look at the old dog.

"Here, I've got an idea."

He follows her to the other side of the facility where they keep the cats and she hands him a pair of black kittens.

"Their mom died and they've been anxious to find a loving home ever since," she says while showing him the best places to scratch.

He cuddles them close and stares at the girl, hoping to convey literally anything.

She smiles warmly, "Not much of a talker, huh?"

He shakes his head and she brings him back to the front lobby. She gives him adoption forms to sign and then gives him a stack of care pamphlets to go through.

He brings the kittens home and grabs a basket and shoves towels and a cushion into it for their bed.

He looks down at the two and thinks that he's already starting to feel better.

It's around this time that Inuzuka Kiba gets his very own ninkin. Sasuke goes home to his kittens and contemplates the idea.

Another trip to the pound, and Sasuke returns home with a scroll outlining how to begin training a nin-animal for academy students.

It's the start of a very odd hobby for Sasuke.

The two kittens a female, he names her Kiki, and a male, Mako, take to the lessons quickly and Sasuke starts to understand why his clan had always kept cats around.

For a long while the cats are only able to respond with one or two words which is just perfect for him because it solves his speaking problem in the academy.

It's after a year of pet ownership that Sasuke finds a stray orange tomcat hanging around near the compound.

After a quick conversation with Mako and Kiki, he brings the new cat home.

Orenji regains the weight from being a stray and then some and he shows a surprising aptitude for chakra sensing.

One extra stray turns into three and then twelve and before Sasuke knows it he has enough cats to replace all the members of his family that he lost that day.

They are weirdly protective of Sasuke and trade off on being his voice boxes regularly to practice human speech as well as to memorize the humans that surround him. He doesn't really care what they do and finds them far more human than half the people Sasuke is forced to interact with on a day-to-day basis.

Sasuke is pretty certain that from an outsider's perspective, what he's doing could be called cat hoarding. He tells the cats to make themselves seem sparse when he isn't home incase someone decides to go and check up on his living conditions.

They all give him dry looks at the request and Sasuke chooses to ignore the pointed looks that the cats give the half crumbling main house. As long as his bedroom and the places where his cats slept were clean and in good condition he didn't really see the problem.

On the days where Sasuke isn't able to leave his own head the cats prove to be especially helpful. They all worry after him in their own sarcastic ways and he appreciates it a lot.

...

Sasuke stops his habitual voluntary homelessness.

...

Mako and Kiki are the ones to suggest Sasuke purchase a pretty cotton sundress that he keeps glancing at in a store window every time he passes it to and from school.

"I'm a boy," he whispers frightfully, both trying to convince the cats and himself.

Kiki and Mako give him twin looks of sadness.

Orenji brings up the conversation later that night over dinner, "You humans always make things so complicated. Do you feel like a girl or a boy?"

Sasuke shrinks in on himself and shrugs, more scared of losing his faithful companions than anything.

"Mrrr, it's okay if you're a girl, mrrrr," Kiki says while butting her head against his arm.

"You're our boss," Mako extrapolates, "We'll stick by you no matter what. And that goes for all of us."

Sasuke risks glancing at all the eyes watching him and sees resolute support from all of them.

"No one else can find out," Sasuke says picking at the wood grain of the table.

Mako flicks his tail in a shrug, "Fine, around the other humans we'll make sure to use male pronouns."

Sasuke hendges to buy the sundress the next day and for the first time ever Sasuke lets herself be a girl.

The dress is baby blue with little violets embroidered on the hemline. She lets her hair down from the stocking hat she's taken to wearing and flushes at her reflection. She's beautiful and the cats all rush to tell her so.

Orenji rubs himself against her calf and purrs, "See, not so complicated. You're a girl and it's as simple as that."

She smiles hesitantly and wears the dress for the rest of the day feeling more like herself than she's ever felt.

The other kids at the academy used to fuss and practically worship the ground that Sasuke walked on. After the massacre it got worse for a while but as her demeanor firmly changes to the shy, selectively mute person, the fans taper off.

Sasuke can hear the whispers about her still, though. They call her odd and sneer every time the cats interact for her.

She doesn't care; she hasn't cared in a long time.

Inuzuka Kiba is the one who adjusts to the talking cats the quickest, probably due to being in a clan that regularly works with ninanimals.

It's obvious the boy doesn't like cats at first but warms up to them quickly and somehow an odd camaraderie forms between Sasuke and him. With Kiba follows Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji, and Uzumaki Naruto.

Sasuke hasn't ever really spared any of them more than a passing glance but she is thankful when the ragtag group stands up for her on the occasions that the whispers turn into jeers.

They aren't friends, not by a long shot, but Sasuke is able to stop dreading going to the academy most of the time.


	3. You Smell Like Pomegranates

Graduation from the academy is a rather anticlimactic affair. Kiki thanks the chūnin teachers for Sasuke when she receives her forehead protector and she goes home to show the rest of the cats.

They all purr up a storm and form a big cuddle pile around her and Sasuke lets herself be happy. She promises them that she'll work hard and save up her money to clean up the compound and to build them a big house with lots of nooks and crannies for them to play in.

Sasuke entertains daydreams about someday retiring away from Konoha and living life as a woman with her countless companions.

She goes to sleep happy that night.

...

Naruto and Sakura eye Sasuke curiously when Kakashi calls on her to introduce herself. It was common knowledge that Uchiha Sasuke doesn't speak, at least, not to other people.

So, her teammates, who have been in classes with her for years, are completely unsurprised when a black nin-cat perches itself onto her shoulder and begins speaking for her.

"Mrrr, this is Uchiha Sasuke, mrrrr. He likes sleeping and taking photographs. He doesn't like to talk much, mrrrr. His goals for the future are to get strong and retire, mrrr."

Kakashi frowns at the female cat and asks Sasuke, "Are you medically incapable of speech?"

Another cat emerges from under Sasuke's coat and this time, in a male-pitched voice, this cat says rather tersely, "Boss doesn't like to talk to strangers."

Sasuke isn't paying much attention to any of them and is staring off into space with a glassy-eyed look.

A glance at Naruto and Sakura tells Kakashi that this is normal behavior. Kakashi sighs internally; this kid needed a psychiatrist not a sensei. But, not to be discouraged, he continues on and informs his dearest students of their test the following day.

Sasuke only lingers long enough to hear the instructions before taking off, the cats following after her.

...

Kakashi shows up on time to observe how the three children interact with each other when he isn't there. Today, instead of the twin black cats that had been following Sasuke around yesterday, it's a fat orange tomcat and a white cat that was more hair than cat. These cats, Kakashi noted, were nin-animals as well and were also trained to speak for Sasuke.

If being forced to interact with cats instead of their teammate puts off Naruto and Sakura, they were doing a fairly good job of hiding it.

The orange tomcat yawns widely before rolling onto his side, "Kakashi-sensei is late."

Sakura looks around them in concern, "I'm sure he'll show up soon. Something must have come up."

Naruto huffs, "Yeah, like it did yesterday too, you mean?"

She sends him a glare and perks up when Sasuke sits up to sign something at the cats.

The white cat demurs slyly, "Perhaps he is like the ghost stories and we only have to say his name three times to get him to appear."

The other two kids snicker at the joke and Naruto tests it out. Kakashi contemplates appearing if only to scare the shit out of them but decides to stay hidden.

Sasuke flops back onto the ground and idly scratches the nearest cat behind the ears.

The orange tomcat is staring right at where Kakashi is hidden and it makes him uncomfortable enough that he changes hiding spots.

...

Kakashi is a planner. He plans for Naruto to run headfirst into attacking him without thinking. He plans for the three genin to be at odds and to separate. He doesn't plan for those two cats of Sasuke's, though.

The orange tomcat, Orenji as he's so aptly named, may be fat and cumbersome looking, but the creature was damned fast.

When Kakashi tries to put Sakura under a genjutsu, that orange cat comes vaulting over the underbrush and pounces onto Sakura. A quick nick of the cat's claws, and the girl is broken out of Kakashi's genjutsu.

He scowls down at the cat that gives him a toothy grin in response while flicking his tail in agitation.

"Orenji!" Sakura exclaims in surprise.

"Go meet back up with boss and Naruto, I'll hold dog man off," Sakura's face pinches at the description of Kakashi but she does as instructed and runs away towards where Kakashi knows Sasuke to be.

"You're pretty impressive for a ninneko," Kakashi drawls, "Especially one trained by a little kid."

Orenji huffs, "Or we're just not as stupid as dogs are."

Kakashi sends a baleful look at the tomcat. He should have planned for these stupid cats.

...

Kakashi passes those three genin, and they do so by the hair on their asses, but he tries to be hopeful. While the dynamic between them is less than to be desired, it isn't outright hostility like Kakashi was with his own teammates.

He looks at the memorial stone long after his students have been dismissed and tells the dead all about his new team.

...

The following day when Kakashi takes his precious little students to receive their first d-rank, he notices there are now two new cats that are following Sasuke about today.

One is another tomcat with sleek grey fur and white paws; he introduces himself as Sokkusu and promptly falls asleep in Sasuke's hood. The other is a kitten who's missing both an ear and his tail, he squeaks out that his name is Bonbon.

That's six cats that Kakashi has counted so far, and he'd judge but he has eight dogs.

Thankfully, no matter which cats Sasuke brings, Naruto and Sakura get along famously with them. It also seems to help them when they receive their first mission to catch the infamous Tora.

The notoriously hard to catch cat strolls right on up to Sasuke and jumps into her arms.

Everyone at the missions' desk gapes in disbelief.

...

Sasuke receives her inheritance in the mail a week after becoming a genin. It's a bank statement and there are enough zeros in the number that Sasuke nearly has a panic attack. She's easily just become the richest person in Konoha and probably in all of Fire Country.

She even wonders if she's now richer than the daimyo.

The first thing she does with the money is hire a landscaper to come in and mow down the overgrown grass and plants.

The cats grumble at losing the protective cover the grass had provided but do admit that the compound suddenly looks much less derelict.

Sasuke doesn't know yet what she's going to do about all the buildings and isn't sure yet what kind of house she wants to build for herself but she plans to thoroughly research so that none of the money goes to waste.

Finally, her life was starting to look up.

...

Naruto and Sakura, on their day off, go to the Uchiha compound to drag their teammate out for team bonding.

Naruto looks at the looming gates with apprehension, "Maybe we should ask another time."

Sakura huffs and pushes him on, "No way! I refuse to let our team be this dysfunctional!"

Naruto rolls his eyes and lets himself be dragged along, "You're just trying to get Sasuke to like you."

Sakura shrugs, "I used to have a crush on him, sure, but I got over that like two years ago."

The compound is ghostly and Naruto gulps at it; Sakura continues on without stopping.

Sasuke's house is the only one seeing any regular maintenance and the outside of it is teeming with different kinds of cats that eye them curiously as they knock on the front door.

The orange tomcat that had accompanied Sasuke their first day as a team, meanders over to them. "Ah, the kittens are here," he drawls, "What is it that you need of our boss?"

Sakura smiles nervously, "It's our day off and we wanted to spend some time with Sasuke-kun for team bonding."

A grey tomcat, who looks a surprising amount like Sokkusu, snorts derisively, "Boss doesn't do team bonding."

Naruto bristles at that, "Well, how else are we supposed to become friends with him?"

Before any of the cats can answer, Sasuke is opening her front door looking ruffled and in her pajamas as if she'd just woken up.

She stares at them for a long moment before sighing and walking away, leaving the door open behind her in invitation.

They follow after her tentatively to her kitchen where she sets out to start making them tea.

If they thought the outside of the house had a lot of cats, there's even more inside. They're everywhere and they all watch them with curious, too-intelligent eyes.

Naruto and Sakura accept their tea with shaky smiles that Sasuke doesn't even seem to notice.

The twin black cats perch themselves on the table and speak for Sasuke as they normally do.

"Do we have a mission, mrrrr?" the female cat of the twins asks. Naruto thinks her name might be Kiki but he can't remember.

Sakura smiles and shakes her head, "No, we were just wondering if you wanted to hang out as a team."

Sasuke startles and looks up from her tea with a surprised look. She points to herself and tilts her head questioningly.

Naruto's head bobs in enthusiasm, "Yeah! We thought we could get ramen or maybe go fishing!"

Sasuke bites her lip nervously before nudging the male twin cat. Naruto thinks that one might be Mako but once again, Sasuke has like 50 cats.

Maybe-Mako squawks in indignation, "Boss are you sure?"

Sasuke rolls her eyes and pointedly takes another sip of her tea.

Mako grumbles before finally addressing Naruto and Sakura, "Fine. Boss needs a few minutes to get dressed, though."

When Sasuke leaves to do just that, the cats stay behind and send suspicious looks to their owner's teammates.

Kiki flicks her tail agitatedly and with a warning lilt to her voice says, "Mrrr, if you hurt Sasuke we'll kill you, mrrr."

Sakura and Naruto would look offended if they weren't so confused by the statement.

Sakura tentatively asks, "Did someone hurt him?"

Mako hisses before grumbling, "That's not important. Just know we'll be going with and we'll know if you hurt Boss."

Sasuke comes back a few moments later and the cats in the room make themselves look quite innocent.

It's a hot day and Sasuke is forced to forgo her usual layered look for a simple white shirt and shorts. There's a camera dangling around her neck that Naruto is quick to ask questions about.

Sasuke flushes at the enthusiastic interest and picks up Kiki so she can answer his questions.

They end up getting bentos and finding a grassy clearing near their usual training field. There are wildflowers blooming everywhere and Naruto sneezes from the pollen.

Sasuke strings together a few flower crowns that would have Ino burning with envy at the skill. She gives them to Naruto and Sakura and when they aren't paying attention, she takes their photos.

Mako admits to them that Sasuke only takes photos of things she finds beautiful.

Naruto and Sakura refuse to take off their flower crowns after that and there's a pleased flush decorating their cheeks the rest of the day.

When they walk her back to her compound, Sasuke hesitates before whispering, so quietly that they almost don't hear, "Thank you."

Naruto cheers and wraps the other up into a tight hug.

"We should do this again-dattebayo!"

Sakura agrees and Sasuke gives them a tiny smile before nodding.

...

Kakashi eye smiles down at her and drawls, "You sure do like taking pictures, Sasuke-kun."

She shrugs and lifts the camera to take another picture of Kakashi. Orenji pipes up from her lap, "Sometimes, the world is easier to process behind the lens of a camera."

Sasuke huffs but doesn't disagree and gives Orenji a nice chin scratch.

Kakashi teaches her how to make a storage seal on a camera strap so that she doesn't have to worry about her camera taking up extra space if she wants to bring it along with her on missions. She's so touched by the gesture that she painstakingly puts together a cute little photo album of team 7 and gives it to him.

He doesn't verbally thank her but he does spend the next several weeks flipping through it instead of reading his Icha Icha book.

...

Kakashi is pleased to note that Sasuke is slowly coming out of her shell. She even feels comfortable enough around them some days to take off her jacket during training.

Sasuke also regularly photographs her teammates.

Kakashi himself dabbles in photography when he's bored but he's never had an interest in taking pictures of people before.

He's even more surprised when Sasuke shows them one of her folios. The pictures are all oddly ethereal and she has a talent for making Naruto and Sakura look glowing and refined.

The first time Kakashi hears Sasuke speak is when he goes to his student's house to check on her on one of their days off. Under all those clothes, Sasuke is very thin and Kakashi takes it upon himself to see Sasuke's fridge and living conditions to ensure that she's taking care of herself.

What he doesn't expect is the 50 plus cats that Sasuke lives with. They certainly weren't there when he had done the first home visit.

Kakashi gives the teenager a dry look while pointedly shaking off an attention-seeking tabby, "I'm pretty sure this is called animal hoarding."

Sasuke just huffs and doesn't look embarrassed in the slightest.

Kiki, the most common companion to Sasuke, speaks up when Kakashi takes a seat at the kitchen table, "We're not normal cats, mrrr."

Kakashi's eyebrow shoots up in shock, "You're all nin-animals?"

Sasuke returns with freshly made tea and nods. Mako jumps into Sasuke's lap before saying, "Boss trained all of us himself."

In the privacy of her home, Sasuke's cats do more than just provide support on a battlefield. The felines actually take care of the teen, getting things for her or pulling her back whenever she starts to space out. Whether Sasuke is aware of their aid remains to be seen.

Before Kakashi leaves, Sasuke gives him a little blue book and mutters, so quietly that Kakashi almost misses it, "I think you'll like this. It's far better than your porn, anyways."

Kakashi only feels mildly offended at the dig on Icha Icha, but he takes the book home. Inside is a cute little polaroid of Kakashi's students and he deigns to use it as a book mark.

The book is flowery, sappy poetry that he ends up absolutely loving. While none of it has the satisfying endings that porn does, he still can appreciate the romanticism that decorates the author's writing.

...

They all get separated on a mission that's just supposed to be a simple D-rank where they're shoveling mud and gravel along a riverbank to prevent flooding.

Sasuke loses her footing and gets swept downstream. The current yanks her directly into the legs of both Naruto and Sakura and then they're all being dragged away.

Sasuke faintly hears Kakashi curse before they're out of sight of each other.

The three genin manage to drag themselves onto a low hanging branch several miles away and shakily wait for their sensei to come find them.

It takes Kakashi about a half hour and when he sees them he makes a comment about being lucky that the river didn't have any forks.

It must have been a spooky enough experience for him as their guardian to lose track of them on such a simple mission that he sits them down the next day to teach them the basics of tracking.

"I don't expect you guys to be Inuzuka's or anything," he explains, "But it's helpful to have the ability to find teammates."

Kakashi takes off his jōnin vest and hands it over to Sakura, "Alright, smell it."

Her face pinches at the order but tentatively does as asked.

"What do you smell?"

She takes another sniff before stuttering out, "Er, dogs?"

He nods encouragingly and has her pass it to Naruto.

"Okay, Naruto, what else besides dogs do you smell?"

Naruto has absolutely zero shame in sniffing the article of clothing, even going so far as to sniff around the arm holes of the vest, "Sweat."

Kakashi sighs, that wasn't exactly the answer he was looking for but it must be enough because Naruto is passing the vest to Sasuke.

Everyone is staring at her expectantly and she has to work up the courage before sniffing carefully at the collar of the vest. The smell makes her pause and she tries again to reconfirm.

She quickly signs to Kiki who's giving her a confused expression, "Mrrr, I'm not sure what that word is boss."

Sasuke huffs and quickly whispers out, "Ozone."

Kakashi looks pleased by that answer, "Very good you three. Those are the main components of my base scent, but the ozone smell is specifically my chakra."

"What's ozone-dattebayo?" Naruto asks, squinting up at Kakashi.

"Ozone is the scent that one smells just before it storms. It has to do with electrical charges interacting with oxygen molecules," Sakura explains.

Naruto looks even more confused and so Kakashi just simply says, "Lightning."

Naruto nods and Kakashi continues the lesson, "I want you each to identify your base scents and the scents of your chakra. Every person is different even if some are particularly close together, there's always differences."

Sasuke somehow gets volunteered to be the first test dummy and sits awkwardly stiff as Naruto and Sakura press their faces into her shirt.

Naruto pulls away first, "I just smell cats."

Kakashi sends an amused look to Kiki on her lap and says, "Well considering how many cats Sasuke owns, it's not surprising."

Sakura pulls away last, her face twisted up in thought, "Kind of fruity? I'm not sure what kind though."

Kakashi walks over and lifts Sasuke's wrist, pressing his nose against the exposed flesh. He pulls away with a thoughtful hum and scratches his chin in thought, "You're right, he does have a fruity smell. I'd say something similar to pomegranate is Sasuke's chakra scent."

Sasuke tries to discreetly sniff herself to see but can't really smell anything.

Sakura's base scent is books while her chakra scent is something that reminds Sasuke of herbal medicines.

Naruto's base scent is unsurprisingly ramen but his chakra scent is something that Sasuke can only describe as sunshine. She's particularly fond of both of her teammates chakra scents and knows she'll be able to recognize their scents anywhere now.

They practice tracking each other for the rest of the day until Kakashi is satisfied that they can find day old scents easily.

Sasuke can't ever say she's eaten a pomegranate, though, and goes home wondering why that would be her chakra scent of all things.


	4. What We Do In The Shadows

Sasuke wakes up with a gasp in the darkness of her closet. By the time she finds the strength to reach up and open the door, the rush of cool air makes her realize her hair is stuck to her face and neck with sweat.

Sasuke grimaces and crawls out of the closet.

Orenji is watching her from the bare mattress of her abandoned bed.

"You okay boss?" he asks while taking in her pale and sweaty form with a concerned flick of his tail.

Sasuke pushes her unruly hair back and lets out a shaky sigh. Like a fucked up holiday, every year on the exact same day, Sasuke has the same nightmare. It's her being pushed into a pool of her parents' blood by her brother who mocks her from above. He forces her face down so that the scant few centimeters of liquid start to get inhaled by her smashed nose.

He always lets her go before she can drown and when she flops onto her back, desperately taking in air, she sees a passing shadow of a girl in a cotton dress and wool socks.

It's the anniversary of the massacre today, and Sasuke is already struggling to make heads and tails of memories from Before and memories from Now. Sasuke always keeps them divided, a strong mental line separating them at all times. She doesn't want to know what would happen if she were to mistake a Before memory with a Now one.

The cats watch her stumble down the steps to the kitchen with folded back ears and cautious meows. Mako and Kiki send Sokkusu to alert her teammates that she's too sick to come to training.

Today is the anniversary of the Uchiha massacre, and for the first time in a long time, Sasuke isn't sure who she is right now.

By the following day, Sasuke has managed to erect the mental barrier of her memories and she desperately clings to this tiny amount of control she has over her life.

Her teammates send her concerned looks when she shows up to training and Kakashi asks her, "You feeling okay, Sasuke-kun?"

She shrugs and Orenji carefully replies, "Just a little cold, boss is feeling much better now."

Sasuke absentmindedly scratches his ears in reward.

Kakashi and the others thankfully take the cat's words at face value and don't bother her about it again.

Today, Sasuke knows who she is and she won't let the confusing memories from Before ruin what little life she's carved out for herself.

...

Orenji waits until Sasuke's breathing has evened out, signaling that the teen has fallen asleep.

The orange tomcat creeps away from the bedroom and catches the gaze of every cat he passes on the way to the veranda. They follow after him with their eyes eerily reflecting the moonlight.

Sasuke was a precious human being, something that all of the cats hadn't encountered until her. She was broken but she still took them in with all the love and affection she could spare. Orenji and the others want to repay her for her kindness by being her silent guardians.

Sasuke is too broken now to learn of their nightly escapades; she surely wouldn't be able to handle the mental burden of what they do in their free time. Nor would she be able to comprehend the things they learn.

Homeless cats were fairly common in Konoha; it wasn't unusual to see one digging in trashcans or meandering along the street. That's why no one thinks twice about the presence of them, not even shinobi.

Orenji is certain Sasuke would have a break down if she knew of their little spy network they've set up on their own. Really, her teaching them human speak and then not expecting them to overhear things was her own fault.

Once Orenji is sat comfortably above the other cats, he starts listening to what information they've gathered throughout the day.

"I saw another one of the lifeless humans again," a tabby says with a sharp glint in her green eyes, "I think they have access points through the sewer system."

"I heard two jōnin talkin' about some political unrest happening in Mist," a tuxedo patterned cat chimes in, "Sounds like it's really reaching a boiling point over there."

Homeless cats are everywhere and so no one would think to check their surroundings to make sure they're alone.

The cats hear and see the most interesting things when no one thinks they're looking.

...

When they leave for their escort mission to the Land of Waves, Sasuke brings four of her cats along. Kiki, Mako, Orenji, and Sokkusu.

It turns out that Sasuke's cats are natural chakra sensors and alert them to the enemy kiri shinobi long before they jump out of a puddle at them.

Sasuke doesn't react well to violence, it seems, and after the enemies are subdued, she seems to retreat into her own head. Kiki and Mako do their best to bring her back but even they are struggling.

When it's Sasuke's turn for watch that night, Kakashi sits next to the teen and tries to think about what would be soothing for a traumatized kid to hear.

"How are you holding up?" he asks and mentally winces at his lack of people skills.

Sasuke shrugs and surprisingly, answers for herself, in that soft, airy way she always talks, "I don't like fighting."

Kakashi nods, Itachi had said something similar back when he had first joined ANBU.

"Luckily," Kakashi says already mentally forgoing any gentleness he might have had to start the conversation with, "you didn't have your first kill yet."

Sasuke flinches at the abrupt wording.

Kiki is watching them from a few feet away, her eyes glowing golden from the nearby campfire. It unsettles Kakashi.

"I don't want to kill," Sasuke says and burrows down into her big coat as if feeling a chill.

Kakashi pats her head, "I know you don't."

Sasuke reacts a bit better when Zabuza attacks, although, she very nearly has a panic attack during the fight when the kiri missing-nin unleashes a wave of oppressive killing intent onto them.

Mako and Kiki back Kakashi up quite impressively for such small creatures. The two of them are fairly fast and Zabuza doesn't expect their attacks to be so vicious.

Kakashi still manages to overtax himself, though, and he curses himself before everything goes dark.


	5. Ashes

Sasuke struggles to differentiate memories from before and now and so she erects a type of mental barrier she calls 'the line'. The line is strong and stable for years until she gets hit with Zabuza's killing intent while on her first C-rank mission.

She's never been without the line before and there are some very obvious differences to living life without it. Like, for instance, she can for some reason see a man that looks a striking amount like Kakashi-sensei hovering near his prone form. The guy is gruesome to look at because there's a massive gash in his abdomen where his small intestine is bubbling out from the wound.

Sasuke tries her best to ignore him while she and her teammates carry their unconscious sensei to their client's house.

...

Sasuke is as famished as her teammates and the smells coming from Tsunami's cooking are making her stomach rumble desperately.

However, when she lifts the first bite to her mouth, she chokes on the taste. Like scooping up ashes from a fireplace and eating them, her entire pallet is consumed by a taste so bitter that it has her coughing. Everyone looks up at her in surprise and around a mouthful of rice, Naruto asks her if she's okay.

Everyone has been eagerly eating their own food and Sasuke realizes it's something only she can taste. She waves off everyone's concern and forces herself to eat the ash tasting food. Instead of being satiated, her stomach begins to roil in displeasure. Sasuke sets down her chopsticks and tries to compose herself but instead needs to dart up and to the kitchen sink where she proceeds to be violently ill. The half digested food that comes up and out is coated in a slimy black substance and it smells like it's been burnt.

Tsunami lets out a startled noise, shooting up out of her seat to hold Sasuke's hair back, and she asks, "Oh my god, are you okay?"

Sasuke's eyes are misty with reactive tears and she spends the next few minutes spitting into the sink, trying to get the awful ash taste out of her mouth.

The cats are all circling Sasuke's ankles and meowing loudly in concern.

Tsunami helps her back to the kitchen table and gives her a glass of water. Sakura has stood up and is looking into the sink with a worried frown.

"Did you eat anything unusual?" The girl asks, turning to face Sasuke.

She shakes her head while greedily gulping down the water given to her.

"What's wrong?" Naruto demands, looking to Sakura who's still frowning down at the vomit lining the kitchen sink.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say it looks like Sasuke ate charcoal or something," then the pink haired girl turns around, looking pale, "Maybe Sasuke was poisoned at some point."

Sasuke gives her a dubious look and tries to think back to the fight they had earlier in the day. Zabuza hadn't even really touched her at any point in the fight.

She says as much and Sakura starts wringing her hands nervously, "We'll monitor your vitals to make sure, and we'll see if we can't get you to keep food down later."

Sasuke sighs and rubs her aching stomach; she is so hungry.

...

Kakashi wakes up a few days later to Orenji sitting on his chest and purring up a storm. There's orange cat hair all over his shirt and mask and Kakashi remembers why he hates cats so much.

The tomcat hops off of him with a stretch and says, "One of the kittens is downstairs and the other two are with the drunk at the bridge."

Kakashi huffs at the wording, "Don't call the client a drunk."

The cat just flicks his tail in a way that Kakashi reads as a shrug.

"Which of the kids is downstairs?"

"Sasuke."

Sure enough, when Kakashi goes down the steps, Sasuke is sitting at a kitchen table sipping tea and reading. The teen looks up with a raised brow.

Orenji must translate something from the look because the cat says for Sasuke, "You look like shit, Kakashi-sensei."

Said man glares balefully down at the cat before depositing himself into a rickety wooden chair at the table.

"Report."

Sasuke talks for herself and softly describes the events that have occurred since Kakashi's been out of commission. The man already knows that he has about a week to get him and the kids up to level for when Zabuza is finished healing.

"Where are the other cats?"

Orenji answers this time, "Sokkusu and Mako are at the bridge with the kittens and Kiki is scouting the forest trying to catch Zabuza's scent."

Sasuke doesn't seem worried about Kiki scouting alone like that so Kakashi doesn't let himself worry either.

"Has she found anything yet?"

Sasuke shrugs and Orenji answers again, "She's found traces but they lead in circles. The guy is good at covering his tracks that's for sure."

...

Kiki comes back before Naruto and Sakura do and she's wet and quite irritable.

"Mrrrr, The bogs around here are annoying," the female cat rants while Sasuke carefully towels off her fur, "Mrrr, I'd swear that the enemy is swimming through them to cover up their scent, mrrrr."

Kakashi nods, "Probably, but judging by your state I'm assuming you found something useful?"

Kiki huffs, "Of course I did, mrrrr! They're about a half day's travel from here and I've narrowed down the general area where they're hiding out, mrrrrr."

Kakashi nods, he's impressed at the skill the cat has shown. He tries to give her a dog treat that he keeps on his person for his own nin-animals, but she scrunches her nose at the smell and hisses at him.

Sasuke gives her a cat treat from her own pocket and sends Kakashi a bemused smile for his effort.

...

Naruto and Sakura crowd Kakashi as soon as they get back, demanding to know how he's feeling. He waves them off and looks down to a tired Mako.

"Any sign of the enemy?"

The cat slumps down onto his side, "Nope, it's unusually quiet, actually. The only chakra signatures we've picked up are civilian ones."

Tazuna can't seem to get over the talking cats because he looks so amazed every time they speak.

"The kids and the cats have surprisingly put my workers at ease for the moment and we're managing to get quite a bit done," the bridge builder admits ruefully.

Naruto and Sakura go into dutifully reporting to Kakashi the past days' events and he's pleased to note that all three of their accounts go the same.

He claps his hands when they're finished, "All right, team, here's what we're going to do…"

...

Kakashi gets a demonstration of Sasuke's inability to keep food down later that night, and he's examining the black sludge that she's vomited up with a deep frown.

"It's been like this ever since the fight with Zabuza," Sakura says from where she's rubbing Sasuke's back soothingly, "No matter what we feed him, Sasuke just keeps throwing up that weird black substance."

"You've tried multiple foods?" Kakashi asks and Sasuke confirms with a nod.

He shakes his head and runs a stressed hand through his unruly hair.

"If it's poison, I've never seen anything like it before," he admits, "Are there any other symptoms?"

The cats go to answer but she waves them off.

In reply to Kakashi's question, Sasuke shakes her head, "O-other than I'm starving, not really."

Then she hesitates and it has everyone looking over at her in question.

She bites her lip before admitting, "All the food I eat tastes like ash in my mouth."

Kakashi pulls out a ration bar and opens it. He takes his own bite before handing it over to Sasuke. She sighs, mentally preparing herself for the bought of sickness that's bound to occur, and takes a bite.

Like everything else she's tried to eat, the ration bar tastes like she's eating the bottom of a fireplace and she struggles to swallow it. It only gets to rest in her stomach for a few moments, though, before she has to run back to the sink to vomit it up.

Sasuke sends a desperate look up to Kakashi from where she's hunched over, "What's happening to me?"

His frown grows deeper and he shakes his head.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sasuke sees the apparition that follows her sensei around get a grim look on his face.

...

Sasuke shakily raises the camera and snaps a photo of Kakashi when he's turned and talking to Sakura and Naruto. Her sensei glances over his shoulder to see what she's doing before continuing his conversation. Sasuke taking pictures of her teammates was a normal occurrence, after all, just not for these reasons.

The minutes that she has to wait for the photograph to develop seem far longer than they normally would.

Sasuke doesn't know what to think when she looks at the photo and there's no visible sign of the ghostly man that follows Kakashi around anywhere in it. When she chances a look at the ghost, he smiles kindly at her as if he knows exactly what she was attempting to do.

She shoves both the camera and the photo into her bag and promptly tries to forget that she ever even attempted to capture physical proof of her hallucinations.

She gives Kakashi and Naruto an awkward grimace when they questioningly look over at her.

...

She finds it on accident when they're practicing tree walking in the woods. The pomegranate tree is scraggly looking and it only has a few of the fruits dangling from its branches, but Sasuke can smell them from unusually far away.

Her mouth waters as the persistent hunger that's followed her since the fight with Zabuza makes itself known. What's one more attempt, she thinks, before plucking one of the overflowing fruits.

For the first time in days, she's able to taste something other than ash. In fact, she would swear she's never had something so good in her entire life. Even better than tomatoes, she thinks.

The juices from the fruit spill over the sides of her mouth as she desperately devours what she can. When she finishes one, she plucks another.

That's how her teammates find her not long after and they watch her eat the fruit in apprehension.

"Is it staying down?" Kakashi asks while limping his way over to her and eyeing the discarded skins and cores warily.

Sasuke nods and takes another bite, closing her eyes briefly at the delicious taste.

She ends up eating all the ripe ones on the tree and feels far more satisfied than she has in a long time. Her teammates aren't sure what to make of the sudden improvement.

Well, it's an improvement until she tries to eat other food later that night and is back to being hunched over the sink.

Kakashi would suspect the bridge builder and his family of attempting to poison the teen, but Kakashi has been personally cooking Sasuke's food these past few days. There's also nothing to explain the odd black substance that coats whatever gets thrown up.

The cats wait until the kids are asleep before they tell Kakashi that whatever Sasuke is throwing up, it smells like burnt flesh. He agrees and makes sure to collect a few samples of it to bring back to the village.

Sasuke hunts down another pomegranate tree the next day and eats whatever she can and doesn't throw any of it up.

It's an anomaly that Kakashi won't be able to deal with until they go home.


	6. Beginning to Bloom

Sasuke isn't afraid of death, she realizes.

Naruto is crouched above her with tears staining his cheeks. She smiles kindly at him and feels her eyes grow heavy.

...

Sasuke wakes up in time to see Zabuza and Haku die. The air takes on the smell of pomegranates when they pass.

...

The return trip to Konoha is much shorter without a civilian holding them back, but it still takes about three days.

Sasuke is awake for watch one of the nights they've stopped to rest and when she's sure everyone is asleep, even the cats, she looks over at the apparition that follows her sensei around.

"Who are you?" she whispers.

The man looks over at her and raises his finger to his lips with a wink.

Sasuke thinks that he's pretty charming for a hallucination.

He makes his way over to where she's sitting at the tree line and crouches down in front of her. He waggles his fingers in her face and flips his hands this way, and that, to show that they're empty. Sasuke watches on, curious to see what he plans to show her.

Another exaggerated wiggling of his fingers and a marble appears in his palm. The man's eyebrows go up and he looks quite pleased with himself.

When Sasuke just gives him a dry, unimpressed look at the 'magic' trick, the apparition's face falls into a comically downtrodden expression. Sasuke can't hold it in and she lets out a startled giggle.

The man looks back at her with a wide grin and another one of those saucy winks. That has Sasuke bursting out into another fit of laughter.

From by the fading campfire, she hears, "What are you doing?"

Sasuke's back goes ramrod straight as she freezes in surprise. She turns around and Kakashi is sitting up in his bedroll and looking around the camp with a wary eye.

The apparition returns to Kakashi's side and raises his finger to his lips for her to be quiet. She nods and belatedly remembers that Kakashi has asked her a question.

"Er, I just remembered something funny," she stutters out. Kakashi doesn't look like he believes her but he settles back into his bedroll after one last glance around.

...

Kakashi dismisses them once they're back in Konoha, and he calls Sasuke to stay behind.

There's still no explanation for Sasuke's sudden inability to eat food and with Sasuke's almost-death still fresh, Kakashi is particularly adamant about watching out for her well-being.

"I just want to let you know that if there's anything you need, anything at all, you can come to me," Kakashi says seriously.

Orenji chirps out a 'thank you' for Sasuke and the cats and her are heading back to their empty compound.

...

The mission to the Land of Waves was particularly disastrous and so Team 7 has been given a few weeks of leave. Sasuke uses the first days to painstakingly resurrect the line in her head. Kakashi checks in on her daily in the beginning to see how her food intake is fairing. As soon as the line is back up, Sasuke is able to go back to eating normal food much to her relief. Kakashi looks suspicious but he begrudgingly accepts her improvement for what it is and leaves her alone.

It takes a surprising amount out of her to build those walls back up, but once they're back in place she's left to other issues.

Not having missions or training for two weeks leaves her with her thoughts and she keeps finding herself drifting to stand in front of her mirror.

Sasuke tugs fretfully at her t-shirt and shorts that she's lounging around in, pulling the material flush against her chest and frowning at the lack of definition.

She lets the material go slack and smooths it down. Sakura has already started puberty herself and even though her chest is small, she at least _has_ breasts. Sasuke- Sasuke doesn't have anything, and she won't ever have anything there.

Her hands drift south and she scowls at the slight bulging in the front of her pants. She hasn't decided what to do about her penis and most of the time it doesn't bother her that much, but she knows that puberty is just around the corner for her. Sasuke doesn't know if she's ready to deal with erections and the surge of hormones as well as the loss of what little outward femininity that she retains.

She just wants to be the girl that she is on the inside.

A quiet rumble of a purr pulls Sasuke from her thoughts and she looks down to see Orenji rubbing against her calf.

"You've been staring at the mirror for a long time now," he says and lets out a pleased meow when she picks him up to cuddle him.

She goes and sits down on her bare mattress and runs her fingers down his back.

"I hate my body," she admits softly.

He looks up at her for and takes in her expression with a critical eye before he gets up and hops back down to the floor.

"Perhaps those humans you spend so much time with could know about you," he suggests idly, "Maybe if you were allowed to dress and act the way you want to, you'd be happier with your body."

It's a very good suggestion and one that probably would have Sasuke being more accepting of herself but the fear of anyone knowing still sits heavy in her stomach. Team 7 are the first people she's spent any time with since her family was killed and she's so desperate for any bit of human interaction that she can't bare the thought of them rejecting her.

Sasuke looks at herself in the mirror and hates what she sees.

In a fit of random bravery, Sasuke goes seeking Kakashi out alone. He's fairly easy to find; all she really had to do was follow the trail of grumbling civilian women who were quite offended to see a man openly reading smut while traversing through the village.

When Sasuke finds him, he's lounging on a park bench, taking up the whole thing rather rudely. He looks up at her with a surprised widening of his eye and he sits up to address her.

"Sasuke? Do you need something?" his eyes track across her person, looking for a cat to answer his question and he stands up when there are no cats to be found. He looks very serious then, and his searching gaze goes looking for injuries.

Sasuke takes a deep breath, "I wanted to- er- well you said that I could, um, talk to you."

Kakashi relaxes when he realizes that Sasuke isn't injured or in mortal danger and then lets the surprise settle over him. He hadn't expected Sasuke to actually take him up on his offer.

"Uh, sure," he says awkwardly, sitting back down and gesturing for her to do the same.

Sasuke sits as close as she dares, which isn't very, and fiddles nervously with her hoodie string while she tries to find the words to say.

"I don't - um, I don't feel very good about me," she says and then winces at the wording she chose.

Kakashi patiently waits for her collect herself.

"I feel like someone else on the inside," Sasuke finally gets out. Kakashi's eye is practically boring a hole through her skull as he contemplates her words.

"How do you mean?" he asks, not unkindly, turning his body to show she's got his attention.

Sasuke crosses her arms and feels another surge of self-loathing when she's reminded again of her flat chest.

It comes out rather scathing, "I hate my body. It's all wrong. I want to be like Sakura. I want to wear dresses and I want to have breasts and wear makeup and perfume."

Sasuke feels embarrassed about what she's said as soon as she's said it and she doesn't have any more of that bravery to look to see what the expression on Kakashi's face is.

He's silent for a long time before he lets out a slow sigh, "I kind of figured, if I'm being honest."

Sasuke jerks away and gives him a fearful look that he quickly tries to dissuade, "I just mean that when I first got assigned to teach you guys, I did a home visit and I saw your wardrobe."

That doesn't really make her feel any better and Kakashi looks exhausted in that moment.

"Minato-sensei would have been better at this," he grumbles before tugging her towards him with firm hands on her shoulders, "It's okay, Sasuke, to want to be a girl."

Sasuke doesn't quite believe him and so he gives her a little shake and says, "We don't control what we're born into; all we can do is make the best of what we have. You didn't ask to be born a boy but you have your cats and me supporting you whole heartedly to be whoever you actually are."

In the following moment, Kakashi's arms are full of a sobbing teenager as Sasuke wraps her arms around his shoulders and buries her face into his flack jacket. He lets out a long sigh internally but awkwardly returns the hug to the best of his socially inept abilities.

When Sasuke has calmed down to the occasional sniffles, Kakashi regards her thoughtfully before saying, "There's a few someone's I want you to meet."

It sounds ominous to Sasuke but Kakashi sets a comforting hand on her shoulder and leads her to a part of town she hasn't ever dared to go before.

The red light district is quiet during the day as most of the inhabitants are asleep or off living their normal lives. Sasuke wants to run away but Kakashi keeps sending her these reassuring eye smiles that have her reluctantly following after him.

Apparently, her sensei is a frequent enough patron to a building called 'The Blooming Lotus' that he leads her around the front and to the back door. Sasuke really didn't need to know that about the man, but he says to her while he knocks, "A few good friends of mine might be able to give you some advice."

A woman, half dressed in a kimono and wearing a wig cap opens the door. She's still sleepy and so it takes her a few moments before she realizes who's standing before her. She let's out a delighted squeal, "Kakashi-kun!"

"Mah, Chika-chan," Kakashi says with one of his awkward waves. They get ushered in by the fussing woman and Kakashi introduces Sasuke, "This is Chika, she's transgender, like you."

Sasuke's eyes widen and she takes in the woman with new eyes. She had no idea that there were others like her.

The woman coos over her excitedly, "Oh, Kakashi-kun, what a little cutie!"

Then she turns suspicious and accusing, "A little young for you, don't you think?"

Kakashi waves his hands in front of him in alarm, "No! This is my student, Sasuke-chan. She's having some gender identity problems and I thought you and the girls would be the best ones to help her."

Chika eyes him for a moment before her face relaxes and she chirps out happily, "Why didn't you say so? Come on, dear! You look like you're drowning in those clothes!"

Sasuke gets whisked away by a flurry of silk kimonos and strings of pearls. A group of women are lounging in some sort of dressing room, with various mirrors and open makeup products scattered around them.

Sasuke doesn't miss that all of them are trans.

A few of the women coo excitedly at the sight of Kakashi and drag him away to another part of the establishment, leaving Sasuke alone with the rest of the women. Like a shark smelling blood in the water, these women must sense that Sasuke is in need of help because they descend on her with praises and curious gropes to her hair and clothes.

"Oh, look at you!," one woman, Kimiko, chatters while running her fingers through Sasuke's hair, "You need a woman's touch, you do!"

"I think she'd look so cute in lavender, don't you ladies think so?" another says and Sasuke never thought it would feel so good to be referred to as a girl. A pleased flush coats her cheeks as the women take to the task of dressing her up like a doll.

Sasuke doesn't speak until they're putting makeup on her, and it's to ask what the various products do. The women excitedly explain to her the what everything is and how to apply it, going so far as to start putting stuff in a bag that she can take home with her.

While they dress her up, Sasuke gets some of their stories.

"I just always knew, you know?" Chika says while carefully painting Sasuke's nails, "My dad was a real man's man and so he tried his damnedest to beat it out of me. As soon as I was old enough I said, 'See ya!' and left. I found my way here and the rest is history."

Kimiko tells her story next while helping Sasuke into a lavender kimono that's decorated with a floral theme, "I didn't realize that I was a girl for a long time. I lived my life as a man and it wasn't until I was dating this girl that I realized that I didn't want to be _with_ her I wanted to _be_ her.

"It was hard to accept myself, though, and I spent a long time trying to 'fix' myself."

"How did you overcome it?" Sasuke asks.

Kimiko hums and finishes tying the obi before answering, "I saw some jerks beating up Chika-chan here in an alleyway. I stepped in a helped and she brought me here and introduced me to all the women. I hated them at first- I was so conditioned to believe it was wrong to be transgender- but they were so open and happy. The longer I thought about them the more I wanted that for myself."

"Don't get me wrong, I still struggle to accept myself some days," the woman admits wryly, "but I'm slowly unlearning all that hate and judgment, bit by bit."

When they're finished with her, Sasuke thinks that she looks like her mom and she's so happy she wants to cry. She doesn't, though, as she fears what kind of retribution these women would enact if she messed up their hard work.

Kakashi comes back at that point, looking a little disheveled, and he does a double take at Sasuke's appearance.

He leans against the door and looks relieved, "It suits you."

Sasuke blushes and sticks her nose in the air; "I can't believe you dragged me here so you could hook up with women."

Kakashi splutters at that and the others join in in ribbing into him.

Sasuke looks in the mirror and thinks that maybe she doesn't hate herself as much anymore.


	7. A Team is Born

Team Gai gets requested for maintenance jobs regularly from the same person. Whoever it is lives in the abandoned Uchiha compound and requires an exuberant amount of grass trimming and weed pulling.

The group doesn't think much of it until one day, a fat orange tomcat drawls lazily at them from the branch of an apple tree, "You're the only ones boss lets in here."

The group startles and Tenten squeaks out, "Did that cat just talk?"

Said cat gives them a toothy grin and Neji is more focused on what was said, "What do you mean we're the only ones allowed in here?"

The cat hops down onto a nearby stone bench and makes himself comfortable, "Boss won't hire anyone else to come in here to work."

Lee throws a triumphant fist in the air, "Yosh! Surely it is because we have shown such competent skill!"

The cat flicks his tail, "Hm, perhaps."

Tenten frowns, "Hey, who is your boss? I don't think we've ever met the client who hires us for these jobs."

The cat yawns, "I'm not surprised; boss is pretty shy and doesn't like company none too much. Well, apart from us cats, anyways."

Gai answers the question more fully, "I believe it is young Uchiha Sasuke that hires us; he is the only Uchiha left to live here."

Lee frowns heavily at that, "That is so horrible, to be so alone."

The group continues work but only Neji glances past the pile of weeds to the main house that looms in the distance.

The cat notices and rubs himself against Neji's leg, "The floors are still stained. Boss doesn't go in that room no more."

Team Gai all look quite pale at the thought.

"Y-you mean he still lives in there?" Tenten stutters out in disbelief.

The cat starts to wander away and throws over his shoulder, "All Uchiha are required by law to live in the Uchiha district."

Neji goes home later that night to his own district and when he looks around he realizes something. They're all just part of a machine; a system designed to keep them down and complacent. Sasuke was a part of this machine just as much as Neji was and it causes him to feel a type of kinship with this person he's never even met.

The next time Team Gai goes to maintain the Uchiha compound, Neji sees out of the corner of his eye a beautiful girl with sad eyes. She's gone and around the corner before much else but he knows he'll never forget the way she looked, nor will he forget what the cat told him. All Uchiha are required by _law_ to live in the Uchiha district.

….

Naruto remembers when the Uchiha massacre happened.

It was hard to miss.

Suddenly one morning nearly a quarter of the academy student body was gone and only one ever came back.

 _Little bodies bleeding out in their beds._

Sasuke returned weeks later a completely different person from when Naruto last saw him as. The child went from someone who was cheerful, if a bit pompous, to a creepy shell of a person. Blank, marble eyes would just look right through everyone and everything and Naruto had even once overheard some of the academy staff refer to Sasuke as a living doll; they called him empty.

Chūnin instructors joke that Itachi, like an oni, stole the boy's soul right out of his body.

Naruto remembers the Uchiha massacre because the aftermath was so scarring.

…

Naruto remembers when he first really took Sasuke in as whole person- like really looked at the person he's gone to school with for most of his life.

He didn't want to be on a team with the village ghost, didn't want to have to force awkward conversations with cats and not a person. Sakura forces him to look, though, to look at the person that he's been paired up with.

Sasuke, under all the messy hair and baggy clothes, is a delicate and beautiful person who's so— so _broken_.

…

Naruto hadn't known that Sasuke had been there that night, hadn't known what exactly about the massacre had really destroyed the kid.

Kakashi pulled him and Sakura aside one day after training and told them a bit about their shy teammate.

"I'm sure you've noticed Sasuke isn't the most, er, balanced person ever," Kakashi says awkwardly while scratching at his hair, "I think that you deserve to have a little background information about your teammate."

"I was part of the cleanup crew after the massacre," Kakashi admits, straightening up like he's giving a mission report, "I was given the task of identifying and moving the bodies of the main family."

Here Kakashi adverts his gaze to the ground and a shadow looms over his person, "There was so much blood and they were all piled together in the living room; over top each other. I went to grab Sasuke first, I thought he was dead, but then he looked up at me and I'll never forget the way he looked."

Kakashi's shoulders have started to hunch up, like he's trying to get away from the memory and Naruto and Sakura are openly crying.

"His brother had left him there with the corpses of his parents. He laid in their blood for hours before we'd found him."

Kakashi rubs at his face with a tired hand, "Sasuke's been through a lot, but I can tell this team will be good for him. Please just give him a chance."

Naruto wants to give Sasuke a chance.

...

When Naruto thinks back to what Sasuke had been like when their team had first formed and makes a comparison to the person who approaches him and Sakura on their day off, it's like they're two different people.

This new Sasuke gives shy smiles and speaks up every once in awhile even if the words are soft and quiet.

Naruto remembers the massacre and he's just sorry that he didn't realize there was someone as alone as him all this time.

Sasuke buys them ice cream and they all head out to an empty training ground. Sasuke's nervous and for some reason the cats aren't anywhere to be seen.

Sakura and Naruto are immediately on edge, trying to figure out with the problem is.

"I want-" Sasuke stumbles over the words several times before saying, "I wanted to talk to you in person about something."

Sakura rests a comforting hand on Sasuke's shoulder, "We're a team and we'll listen to whatever you have to say."

It takes Sasuke a long time to form the words and Naruto and Sakura wait patiently for their teammate to speak all the while.

Eventually, soft and shaky, Sasuke says, "I'm a girl."

Naruto is confused because he's personally seen Sasuke's dick before. It must show on his face because Sasuke is quick to explain.

"I-I mean, it's just that—I guess what I'm trying to say is that even though I have the body of a boy, I'm a girl on the inside."

Naruto thinks he's starting to get it. He once knew a kid who was kind of similar. The guy was all girly and pink one day and then the next he showed up to the playground with his hair buzzed off and a sock stuffed down the front of his pants. He'd beat the shit out of anyone that even so much as suggested that he might not actually be a boy. Naruto had really admired him.

Sakura seems to be struggling more than Naruto is if her pinched face is anything to go by.

Naruto breaks the tension, "Ah! Okay! Why didn't you just say so? So you want us to use she/her instead of he/him?"

Both Sasuke and Sakura look at Naruto with wide, surprised eyes.

Sasuke regains her bearings and mumbles, "Yeah, that'd be great actually."

Not wanting to be left out or to seem like she might be ignorant, Sakura goes along with everything and asks, "Do you still want to be called Sasuke?"

Naruto makes a mental note to explain everything to Sakura after Sasuke leaves.

"It's my name," Sasuke says with a shrug, "I don't know what else I'd go by."

Then, Sakura makes a touching offer that has Naruto feeling really proud of her, "Want me and Ino to help you shop for kunoichi clothes? I know all the best retailers."

Sasuke- Sasuke looks truly happy for the first time, Naruto thinks and it has him swooning a bit. He thinks that he's never seen someone so beautiful when she smiles like that.

Naruto looks at the girl he's known since childhood and wonders how anyone could ever hurt her.

…

Kakashi gives them the forms for the chūnin exams and Naruto thinks that things are finally starting to come together for Team 7.

However, Sasuke is staring down at the piece of paper in despair.

"We'll totally kick everyone's ass!" Naruto crows while trying to keep the atmosphere upbeat.

"You really think we could do it?" Sakura asks. She's looking down at her own form with skepticism.

Naruto nods and wraps his arms around the shoulders of his teammates, "No one is gonna stop us, we're Team 7!"

He says it with such conviction that Sasuke and Sakura are relaxing into his hold with determined smiles on their own faces.

Naruto thinks that they are finally coming into their own as a team and that this is their chance to prove it.


	8. A Snake in the Trees

Neji officially meets Uchiha Sasuke just before the first test of the Chūnin Exams. Up close she's even prettier than when Neji saw that glimpse of her all those weeks ago. It's typical, he thinks, that she would be beautiful. She's of the main branch of the Uchiha clan and as such, a specimen of perfect breeding.

That vicious train of thought gets cut off, though, when he makes eye contact with her. Her eyes remind Neji of how his used to be when he was younger and hadn't gotten quite so angry. They're these big, sad orbs that make him shudder with how they seem to stare right through him as if she were the one with the byakūgan, not him.

Then, Neji's eyes trail to her arms where a familiar fat, orange cat is perched with a toothy grin.

 _Uchiha are required by_ _ **law**_ _to live in the Uchiha compound._

"I hope to fight you," Neji tells Sasuke honestly; his first words he's ever spoken to the girl, "I don't think we're that different, you and me."

Sasuke flushes under his intense scrutiny and gives a tiny nod while adverting her eyes to stare at their feet. The orange cat pipes up for her, "Sasuke looks forward to it."

Tenten pulls Neji away after that and he can't help but think about how Sasuke didn't really look like she wanted to be there.

…

It seems as though the exams were designed to kick Naruto's ass right off the bat. The first test is a written exam and both Sakura _and_ Sasuke send him twin looks of exasperated distress. The only thing that keeps him from having a full on panic attack right then and there is Orenji hoping onto his shoulder and purring loudly into his ear.

"Calm down, kitten," Orenji drawls, "I'm not gonna let you fail."

Naruto's assigned seat is like a million miles away from his teammates but Orenji doesn't ever leave his side. In fact, Orenji, the fatass, has perched himself on top of Naruto's head while he struggles to take the test. He purrs loudly as he tests the strength of Naruto's neck, but murmurs answers that only Naruto can make out with his close proximity.

Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto can see Sokkusu creeping around under the desks, gathering intel on the various other candidates.

Mako is sitting across Sakura's shoulders like a living shawl and though Naruto can't see Kiki, he's certain the feline has made herself comfortable in the baggy confines of Sasuke's hoody.

Apart from Team 8, they're the only team with ninanimals and the other candidates look on either jealously or nervously depending.

The first test doesn't end fast enough for Naruto and he follows after his teammates in relief when they pass.

The Forest of Death doesn't look to be any easier of an exam but Naruto thinks that if they survived Wave, they can survive anything.

He wishes he wouldn't have been so foolishly confident when they get separated by that Kusa kunoichi.

…

When Sasuke was little, her parents had sat her down and told her about the concept of blood-line theft. At the time it seemed like such a far away possibility, like something that would maybe happen to her cousins but never to her.

As Sasuke stares down the snake-like shinobi, she's suddenly reminded of all the terrible things that could happen to her.

After that talk Sasuke had nightmares for weeks of people gouging out her eyes or keeping her in a cage for breeding stock.

The Kusa kunoichi imposter laughs meanly when Sasuke is too frightened to move and taunts her with memories of her brother killing their family. All Sasuke can think about is how she doesn't think she'll be able to fight this shinobi off if he goes for her eyes.

Sakura is the one to break her from her fear-induced trance by driving a kunai into both of their thighs. Sasuke grabs her teammate's hand and drags her off the branch just in time to avoid a deadly aimed attack. Naruto is no where to be seen and Sasuke wonders if maybe this shinobi will spare her teammates' lives if she gives herself up willingly.

Before she can do just that, Naruto makes a reappearance in easily the most dramatic way.

As a team, Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura can hold their own as long as the shinobi they're fighting doesn't decide to start taking them seriously.

Naruto goes for an attack from above but gets tangled in the shinobi's weird, snake like body. The shinobi is about to do something to the seal on Naruto's stomach, however Sokkusu jumps in to block the attack. The nineko falls to the forest floor, dead from the surge of chakra and the three genin all stare on in shock.

Sokkusu probably saved Naruto's life, and as he sees the cat die, a terrible rage not unlike when he was in the Land of Waves overtakes him.

…

Sakura is scared. In fact, she would say this is the most scared she's ever been in her entire life. Zabuza and Haku had nothing on Orochimaru.

The fear changes to a boiling rage, though, as the fight for their lives continues. The missing-nin killing Sokkusu had really upset her, but what has her raging is when Orochimaru leaves some kind of disgusting seal on Sasuke.

Sasuke— her innocent, too-gentle teammate who she considered one of her best friends.

For the first time in her life, Sakura wants to _kill_.

She can't right now; she's too weak and Sasuke is unconscious. So, instead, she makes a vow to skin that fucking snake alive and make a handbag out of him.

As Orochimaru leaves them, injured and defenseless, she knows that she'll do anything to make that happen.

…

Sakura and Naruto drag Sasuke's limp body into a little cave under a dead tree. She's hot and clammy to the touch as a fever rages on in her body.

Gods, Naruto has never felt so guilty. It's his fault that Sokkusu is dead. As he looks at his comatose teammate, he can't help but feel that this is his fault too.

Naruto clenches his hands so hard they bleed and he thinks to himself, if only he had been strong enough.

Orenji, who's normally a happy, carefree feline, is uncharacteristically solemn as he sits curled up against Sasuke.

Mako is acting as lookout and Kiki has gone with Sakura in search of herbs to help bring Sasuke's fever down.

Naruto sits there and he feels so so useless.

…

Sakura returns just after the sun has set and Naruto stands up in surprise when he sees Team 10 following after her.

"I ran into them while looking for herbs," Sakura explains as she moves to go check on Sasuke's condition, "They wanted to make sure we were all okay."

Naruto's face flushes in shame and he looks away from them.

Ino takes her own seat on Sasuke's other side and rests her hand against the girl's forehead.

"She's burning up," Ino comments quietly, "How long has she been unconscious?"

Sakura sighs and tugs the collar of Sasuke's hoody over so that Ino can see the mark.

"Ever since she got this."

Shikamaru and Choji slide closer to get better looks and they're both wearing heavy frowns.

"I don't know much about fuinjutsu," Shikamaru says, "but that looks really bad."

"She looks like she's having a horrible nightmare to top it all off," Ino says with a gesture to Sasuke's pinched face.

That's when Sakura gets an idea.

"Do you think you could wake her up using your mind transfer technique?"

Shikamaru's head snaps up to look at Sakura, "You can't be serious."

Ino looks contemplative, though, "I mean, theoretically."

"No!" Shikamaru shouts, "No way! That sounds like a dangerous idea, what if you get stuck?"

"Please," Sakura and Naruto beg, "please help Sasuke wake up."

Ino is already forming the hand signs and Shikamaru is pacing around the cave in agitation.

Meanwhile, Orenji slips away to go take care of something.


	9. No Longer Comatose

Just like every nightmare Sasuke has ever had since she was a child, it's the night of the massacre and she's lying in her parents' blood. Itachi, the wraith, is bathed in moonlight as he shoves her face first into the blood on the floor. With enough force to potentially break Sasuke's nose, he presses her down with a taunting sneer.

"Aren't you scared, little brother?" Itachi asks and Sasuke can scarcely hear him past the pounding of her heart in her ears. It's getting dangerously hard to breathe and Sasuke knows she'll lose consciousness if he holds her down any longer.

Before Sasuke can pass out, the scene rewinds and she desperately gasps for breath as Itachi makes his way over to her.

Again and again, Sasuke is being shoved down and near drowned and just when she thinks she can't take any more, it all rewinds and starts over again.

There's a sudden flow of cool, foreign chakra all throughout Sasuke's body during the thousandth time of being pushed down into the blood. Sasuke doesn't have much time to wonder at it before the memory of the massacre is interrupted by Yamanaka Ino appearing in the corner of the room. Her pretty blue eyes are wide and she lets out a strangled gasp that's a barely contained scream of fright.

Itachi's haunting figure fades away like a mirage, as Sasuke is broken out of the spell. She sits up with a cough, wiping away the blood on her face desperately while she looks to Ino in confusion.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke asks, her voice coming out small and high as she is only eight in this memory.

Ino can't tear her eyes away from the corpses of Sasuke's parents on the floor, "A-are those-."

The sound of footsteps cut her off and the both of them are looking up to the half open doorway to the living room. They both catch a glimpse of the edge of a blue dress disappearing around the corner and Sasuke is standing up.

"Who's that?" Ino asks fearfully. She's mind walked people before but never has she seen a mindscape as horrific as this. Blood is everywhere; the very walls are dripping with it. Sasuke is dripping with it as she removes herself from the puddle on the floor.

Ino had learned from her father that the massacre was a horrific thing, but to see it is an entirely different scenario. She'll never forget these images for as long as she lives.

Sasuke shakes her head at Ino and goes to follow, "Stay here."

Ino is too scared to move even though she needs to help Sasuke wake up. She doesn't want to be here anymore, she just wants to leave.

…

Everyone is crowding around Ino as she sits up with a gasp. Loud sobs start leaving her and she curls up against Shikamaru's chest.

"What happened?" her teammate demands with a dangerous growl.

Ino just shakes her head; she doesn't think there are words for what she just saw. Gods, no wonder Sasuke was so fucked up after that night. It's a miracle the girl had even managed to continue on after all of that.

Once she's calmed down a bit and her crying has reduced down to the occasional sniffle, Ino starts to talk.

"S-so much blood," she says while looking at Sasuke's still form on the other side of the cave, "and the bodies- and then Sasuke was being like tortured or something."

Naruto and Sakura are crying but Naruto is the one to say, "The massacre. Our sensei told us a bit about it—Sasuke was there that night."

Shikamaru looks pale and little green at the thought, "You're telling me that Sasuke's mindscape is a fucking murder scene?"

Ino and Sakura shoot him dirty looks for the comment but Ino does nod, "My dad told me some more, er, experienced shinobi have bad mindscapes. I just—nothing could have prepared me for that."

They all collectively sit in silence after that, too tired and upset to make conversation. It's in those moments that Orenji returns from wherever he had been.

Shikamaru makes a gagging noise when he takes in the feline's appearance.

Orenji was completely covered in blood and the missing scroll that Team 7 desperately needed was clenched in his jaws. He unceremoniously drops it into Sakura's lap before returning to his spot next to Sasuke. He cleans himself with his back turned to the rest of the humans.

No one is brave enough to ask him what he had to do to get this scroll.

…

It's a long trek to the tower in the center of the forest hauling an unconscious Sasuke all the while. Team 7 and Team 10 trade off on carrying her but it makes everyone feel vulnerable to attacks.

They make it there with two days to spare and when they figure out the riddle, Iruka and Asuma are the ones to greet them.

Iruka's face falls as he takes in their tired, ragged appearances and the comatose teen thrown over Naruto's shoulder.

"Oh, my," he murmurs and then informs them that while they pass this section for the moment, if Sasuke doesn't wake up in time for the third part, she will be disqualified.

They all hole up in the arena for the time being where the other genin who passed are waiting.

Sakura and Naruto look to their teammate and hope she wakes up soon.

….

The sound of a hand smacking against the floor catches everyones' attentions and Sakura is quick to turn around to check on her previously prone teammate.

Sasuke is struggling on the ground, her eyes wide and her face turning purple and Sakura is moving to her side as fast as she can.

"Oh my god, she's choking," Sakura says hauling Sasuke's body up to lean against her chest.

"Help me hold her up," Sakura barks out to a stunned Naruto who's quickly snapped out of his stupor and is helping hold Sasuke up while Sakura begins the process for the first aid procedure of abdominal thrusts. All the other genin are watching on with wide, curious eyes while Sakura and Naruto desperately try to save their teammate.

On the fifth abdominal thrust, Sasuke is bending forward and coughing up a thick, slithering mass of black goo that splatters across the stone floor loudly.

Ino lets out a surprised gasp, "What the hell is that?"

Whatever it is, it's moving and it's starting to slither away. Orenji and Mako are on it fast, and their little teeth are sinking into the creature viciously.

Naruto is bent down, looking at it closely as it writhes in Orenji's jaws, "I- I think it's a snake or something."

Sasuke is still coughing and retching pathetically in Sakura's arms and the other genin are all properly freaked out now.

Shikamaru comes over as well and is pushing Sasuke's hair out of her face to check how she's doing, "Does this have something to do with that guy you ran into in the forest?"

Before anyone else can give an answer, a large group of jounin and the Hokage appear in a puff of smoke on the dais of the arena.

Kakashi's visible eye widens as he takes in the scene and he's quickly coming over.

A few other jounin curiously follow.

"Report," Kakashi demands, crouching down to check on Sasuke.

Sakura straightens up and begins to recount while the other jounin sensei are carefully removing the squirming snake from Orenji's jaws.

Kakashi tugs Sasuke's hoody off to get a better look at her shoulder and the second proctor, Anko, is watching on with a scowl.

The mark that had been there is gone and Sakura and Naruto are sputtering in confusion.

"It was right there," Sakura insists, pointing to the area that she knows was previously marked. Naruto and Team 10 all agree with vigorous nods.

Kurenai holds up the snake that Sasuke vomited up, "I think this is a chakra construct. Maybe it's the seal itself?"

Anko turns on the other woman with a shout of, "You're telling me that some little genin got rid of the cursed seal all by himself?"

Naruto gets up in Anko's face as his short height will allow him and he glares so coldly that she falters, "Herself; Sasuke is a girl."

The clearing of a throat has everyone going quiet.

"Let's all just calm down," the Third Hokage croaks in his smoker's rasp, "We shall investigate at a later time, now we have an exam to finish."

Kakashi looks like he wants to argue but Kiki speaks up, "Let's continue, mrrrr, Boss is fine."

Sasuke gives a tight nod and with the help of Sakura and Kakashi, stands up shakily.

Kakashi doesn't like this but even he can't keep his student from competing at this late stage. He just hopes that Sasuke is fit enough to still fight.

…


	10. Of Wildflowers

Sasuke is both glad and horrified that she's the first one up to fight. The guy she's supposed to fight, Yoroi, has his face almost completely covered but she can still see the edges of the leer he's sending her.

Sasuke shrugs her hoodie back on while her cats circle her opponent with hisses. She has a brief flood of grief for Sokkesu but she tries to push it back in favor of paying attention to the fight in front of her.

As soon as the proctor gives the signal, Yoroi charges at her with a kunai drawn. He thinks her meek demeanor makes her an easy target, but Sasuke likes to think that after all the bullshit she's gone through, that she's anything but. Before he can make half the distance across the arena to her, Kiki darts past his ankles and severs his achilles tendons, sending the teen sprawling across the ground with a cry of pain.

Seeing that this fight is more than handled, Sasuke stuffs her hands in the front pocket of her hoodie and watches on while her cats release the aggression they've clearly been building up while in the forest of death.

Orenji meanders over to Sasuke and rubs against her ankles with a few meows and he too watches while Mako and Kiki rip into the genin with enviable precision.

Yoroi cries out to the proctor, "This is cheating!"

Hayate, who looks like he desperately needs to go see a doctor, just shrugs in response, "Nin-animals are allowed to fight."

Yoroi eventually forfeits before the cats can do too much damage to his person and Sasuke is announced the winner.

From the upper level, Sasuke can hear several complaints.

"She didn't even fight!"

"That can't be fair, her cats did all the work for her!"

Hayate quiets the others with a flippant wave of his hand and calls for the next set of participants.

Kakashi gives her a dry look once she makes it up to where her teammates are standing, "Not very professional, Sasuke-chan."

She shrugs, it's not her fault.

While the next fight progress, Sasuke takes in the other people in the arena. Ever since she woke up, she's noticed that the line in her head is gone. She had successfully ignored it during her match but now that she's done, she starts looking around curiously.

It's kind of surprising to Sasuke that the third Hokage doesn't have anyone following him around. The man is every bit the war hawk that he's always been and to Sasuke that should mean a few souls with unfinished business tailing him.

What's even more surprising is the two souls that follow Iruka-sensei around. One of them is all mashed and strange looking and doesn't really have any features anymore, and the other has a nasty gash along the back of his head. Iruka looks like that man and so Sasuke makes the assumption that the man is his father and the smashed person is his mother.

Sasuke prays that when she dies that she doesn't look all scary and smushed like Iruka's mother.

Sasuke wonders why her own parents aren't following her around and then she remembers that she really wasn't the favorite child, not by a long shot. It makes her kind of sad that there isn't anyone waiting in the afterlife for her.

Kakashi must sense her thoughts taking a dark turn because he bumps into her side and gives a pointed look to the fight in the arena. She dutifully tries to pay attention after that.

Meanwhile, she can feel the unsettling gazes of several different people and spirits watching her.

…

Kakashi's team are just pups, he thinks. Little kids playing at the beginnings of shinobi-hood, but not yet ready to face the horrors of the world.

But for some reason, no matter what Kakashi does, bad fortune follows the three preteens wherever they go.

As he looks down at their drawn, too-pale faces, he suddenly feels a terrible anger on their behalf. He hasn't done a mission to hunt a missing-nin down in some time, and perhaps it's time he go looking for the bastard who hurt his pups.

...

Instinct is a funny thing, Kakashi thinks as he ushers his team into his apartment after they return from the forest of death. All he wants to do is to build a safe hiding place and keep his genin in there for the rest of time. Based on the way the three of them are practically clinging to his side, they feel the same.

The one Kakashi is most concerned for, though, is Sasuke. Over the past eight months of being a team, she's really come out of her shell. She talks for herself and even initiates conversations.

It seems like all that progress has been wiped clean out.

Sasuke hasn't so much as made eye contact with Kakashi since she woke up from her comatose state in the forest.

Kakashi—Kakashi isn't sure what he should do. Minato would have been better at this, he thinks. He would have known how to comfort the preteen and he would have done it without hesitation.

Kakashi mulls over this week's past events while he digs out several storage bins of old blankets and quilts. Kushina used to make them for him like a woman possessed. It was her way of caring for him.

Sakura is the only one who has built pillow forts before so she takes the pile of blankets with a determined expression and gets started on tearing Kakashi's living room apart.

The little den the kids build is only big enough for them but that's fine with Kakashi. He drags his mattress out onto the living room floor and lets himself get comfortable there. His body is positioned strategically in front of the kids so that if any intruder were to break in, they'd have to go through him first.

Kakashi lets the kids whisper to themselves while he gets lost in the poetry Sasuke got for him. Every once in awhile he glances over the top of the book to check on the kids and he snorts when he sees Sasuke and Sakura holding Naruto down while they fill his hair with scrunchies and hair clips. The boy is only half-heartedly fighting against his teammates and his face is split into a delighted grin.

Kakashi's team are just a bunch of pups and he'll be the wolf that keeps them safe.

…

Those feelings of the animalistic desire in Kakashi to maim whomever threatens his pups rears its ugly head the following week.

There's an emergency council meeting to discuss the events that took place in the forest of death.

Shimura Danzo gets that evil glint in his eye that has Kakashi's hackles raising, "I think I speak for all of us when I say that young Uchiha Sasuke is not doing well in Hatake's care."

Tsume, who's sitting right next to Kakashi, sends him a wide eyed look when the beginnings of a growl that could rival any Inuzuka starts to leave his throat.

Danzo ignores Kakashi and continues, "If he were allowed into my care there would be none of this wanting to be a girl nonsense. If I were to be allowed, I could make a respectable shinobi out of him yet."

Tsume and Chouza grab Kakashi by the back of his flack jacket as he jumps out of his seat with the intent to launch himself across the table and rip Danzo's face off with his teeth.

The Third Hokage lets out a slow puff of smoke as he watches the two clan heads try to wrangle Kakashi back into his chair.

"You shut the fuck up," Kakashi says past bared teeth, "Don't you ever fucking touch my genin."

"Oh dear," Hiruzen murmurs before calling order back to the room.

The other clan heads are looking at Kakashi the way that his ANBU counterparts used to look at him when he was still in that dark place. They're looking at him like he's a rabid dog that will go for them next if they give him a reason to.

"You see," Danzo drawls while gesturing to a shaking Kakashi, "I would never lose my temper in such a way; you all can be assured Sasuke would do well in my care."

"I have spent nearly a year trying to get Sasuke out of her shell," Kakashi bites out after he takes a few deep breaths, "If you make her change teams you'll only just set her back."

"I have to agree with Kakashi on this," Inoichi intones, "I have kept close tabs on Sasuke's mental health for years and she's literally never done better until she was put under Kakashi's instruction."

Danzo looks as if he's just bit into something sour and he's sending Inoichi a dark look.

"What about the cursed seal?" Shikaku asks and everyone looks to Kakashi for some kind of explanation.

"I'm not sure," Kakashi admits, retaking his seat, "The only thing I can think is that it had a fail safe built into it in case Sasuke's body rejected it. She's one of the last people on earth with the sharingan and no way would Orochimaru compromise the chance to get that."

Everyone seems to agree with that theory and then Hiruzen also asks, "What of her diet?"

Kakashi actually flinches at the mention of Sasuke's inability to keep normal food down. It had started up again after the events in the forest of death.

"Pomegranates are still the only food she's successfully able to keep down at the moment."

Hyūga Hiashi actually comments on that, "There's no way a shinobi could sustain themselves on fruit alone."

Kakashi shrugs because even he's not sure how Sasuke has made it this long with her questionable stomach, "She says she feels fine and normal. But I have her cats keeping a close eye on her just in case."

"For now Sasuke remains under Kakashi's instruction," Hiruzen says with finality; ending that meeting's topic.

Kakashi can't help the grin of victory that crosses his face. No one would be taking his pups from him.

…

Naruto smooths down his wrinkled t-shirt as best as he can. It's his nicest one. His hair is lost cause; however, as it refused to lie neat no matter what he did to it.

Sakura and Ino are watching him with raised brows.

"Got something big planned today, Naruto?" Sakura asks while leaning against the counter of the flower shop. Naruto is browsing the flowers looking for ones he can actually afford.

He hesitates before admitting; "I just think that with all the bad stuff that's happened to Sasuke lately, that maybe she'd like to have a fun day."

Then Naruto clears his throat and his face turns bright red, "Er, with me."

Ino's jaw drops and Sakura jumps up with a squeal of delight, "That's awesome!"

Ino quickly comes around the counter to look at the flowers alongside Naruto, "Which flowers are you going to get for her? Their meanings are important so you shouldn't be careless about what you pick."

Naruto feels his stress levels increase; flowers mean stuff?!

Sakura thankfully can sense that he's in over his head and she starts to tug him out of the shop, "You won't be able to afford any of these. Besides, I think Sasuke would prefer wildflowers."

Ino calls after them that they return later to tell her how it goes.

Sakura and Naruto pick through several ditches and training fields before they gather a respectable amount of flowers and accents for a bouquet.

Naruto still doesn't understand the whole flowers and meanings thing but Sakura assures him that they don't say anything bad.

"Okay," Sakura says, stopping Naruto just before they reach the Uchiha compound, "How are you going to ask her?"

Naruto flounders for several moments, he honestly didn't even get that far.

"Er," he stutters while eyeing the looming gates, "I guess I was just going to ask if she wanted to get ramen with me and maybe we could go prank sensei or something."

Sakura actually face palms at that and mutters something to the tune of, _ugh boys_.

"Maybe you should say something like, 'Hey, Sasuke! Want to go on a date with me?'"

Naruto nearly chokes on his tongue, "What?!"

Sakura is looking at him like he's an idiot, "That is what this is, isn't it?"

Naruto shrugs meekly; he doesn't think Sasuke would ever really be up for dating him but now that Sakura says it, there's a little bloom of hope forming in his chest.

He thinks about Sasuke as he stares at a chipping uchiwa fan. She's pretty, that much Naruto is certain of, and she's really nice when she's feeling comfortable. Her cats are pretty great, too, and Naruto has to admit he loves spending time with her.

Naruto nods at Sakura seriously then, "I do want to go on a date with her."

Sakura gives a determined clap to Naruto's shoulder, "Good! Now, go ask her!"

With that she shoves him into the compound and runs off, probably to go gossip with Ino.

Bonbon, who's now a fully-grown cat, is sitting on the top of the wall that surrounds the compound and he hops down onto Naruto's shoulder with a happy meow.

"Are those for Boss?" he asks while rubbing his face obnoxiously against Naruto's cheek.

"Yeah, is she in?" Naruto asks and self-consciously tries to brush the cat hair off his shirt when Bonbon hops down.

"Yeah, I'll go get her," the cat says over his shoulder, "You wait here."

…

Sasuke is unceremoniously woken up by a cat pouncing right onto her bladder. She lets out a pained grunt and goes rolling out of the closet with her arms wrapped protectively around her stomach.

She looks at a grinning Bonbon with a betrayed frown, "What the hell was that for?"

"There's someone here to see you!" he chirps happily before making his way over to the wardrobe. He bats at the door until he's able to get his paw in to open it.

"You should wear the white dress!"

Sasuke eyes the cat suspiciously, "Why can't I wear what I'm wearing?"

Bonbon gives a dry look to Sasuke's wrinkled pajamas and messy hair. She huffs and gets up to make her way to the bathroom.

There, she tries to tame her hair to some degree of neatness before returning to her bedroom.

The cats have knocked the white sundress off its hanger and are sitting around it meowing up at her.

"Ugh, fine," she says, mostly to get them to stop, and she puts it on with a sigh.

She stops in front of her mirror before she leaves the room. Every day that goes by she looks more and more like her mom and also more and more like Itachi.

Before that train of thought can go anywhere, she leaves the house.

Naruto is standing awkwardly at the front of the compound and muttering to himself under his breath. He's dressed unusually casually today in a simple t-shirt and shorts.

Sasuke gets his attention, "Did you need something?"

Naruto flinches and turns to address her before stopping and going wide-eyed. He just stares at her for a long time; long enough that Sasuke is starting to wonder if he's having a stroke or something.

"Uh, Naruto?" the boy snaps out of his stupor before thrusting a bouquet of ditch flowers into her face.

"These are for you," Naruto rushes out quickly.

Sasuke accepts them curiously and the professional arrangement tells her that he probably got either Sakura or Ino to help him.

"Thank you," she says honestly and with a bit of embarrassment. She's never gotten flowers from anyone before.

"I was just thinking that maybe we could spend the day together," Naruto suggests. His face is red and he's refusing to meet her gaze so Sasuke takes pity on him and accepts.

"Okay."

A pleased grin stretches across his face and before he begins walking, he holds out his hand for Sasuke to take.

Now its her turn to blush as she stares at the offered appendage. A furry body rams itself into her back and forces her forward. In an effort not to completely face plant, Sasuke reaches out and catches herself using Naruto's offered hand.

It's a little sweaty and warm but nice as it squeezes hers gently.

Sasuke doesn't even think once to let go as they begin walking into the village.

…

Word gets around quickly of Naruto's and Sasuke's not date and the two teens unknowingly acquire quite the audience.

The whole time Kakashi watches his students trek around the village, he has to keep himself from interfering. It takes quite a bit to convince himself that despite Naruto's many shortcomings, the boy seems to have everything under control.

Thank the gods he inherited Minato's effortless charm, otherwise Kakashi thinks this date would be going a whole lot differently.

Sasuke still can't keep normal food down, so Naruto buys her a bag of pomegranates from the market and a bento for himself. (The owner was about to reject Naruto from making any purchases but Kakashi made sure to be in the man's direct line of sight while sharpening his kunai.)

Naruto and Sasuke take their food up to the Fourth's stone head on the mountain and watch the village while they eat.

(In the time that it takes them to travel there, three more jounin and a certain chūnin instructor start tailing them.)

Despite it being a date, these are in fact two children still, and so Kakashi isn't the least bit surprised when they start tossing pomegranate seeds into each other's mouths from different distances. Naruto misses most of them but his wild attempts at catching them have Sasuke giggling from her perch.

Tomorrow, Kakashi plans on taking Sasuke out of the village to train her for her upcoming fight with Gaara, but for now he plans on letting her be a normal kid for the night.

With another mental reassurance that the kids are fine on their own, Kakashi leaves and chases away the other followers while he's at it.

Unbeknownst to Kakashi, Sasuke catches sight of a gray haired apparition who gives her a cheesy thumbs up from the tree line. She snorts and pretends like it was Naruto's failed attempt at eating that prompted it.


	11. The Beginning of the End

The first time Tenzo met Uchiha Sasuke was when she was just a little kid. If asked, she probably wouldn't remember him, but he remembers her very well.

Tenzo and Kakashi had gone to fetch Uchiha Itachi for a sudden mission and had caught the teenager in the middle of baby-sitting.

Big marble eyes had locked accusingly onto them immediately.

"You said you'd train with me today!" Sasuke whines while tugging on her brother's arm with a pout that could topple empires.

Itachi, clearly impervious to his sibling's charms, gently pushes her away with a jab to her forehead, "Sorry, Sasuke."

Tenzo had remembered that interaction so well because he remembers thinking how he would have loved to have a little sibling to follow him around.

Tenzo doesn't see Sasuke again for quite a few years, and when he does, she brings a smile to his face.

The kyūbi jinchūriki has apparently asked her out on a date (the flowers in her hand can't be for anything else) and he watches them pass by while they speak softly to each other.

It's frightening how much Itachi and Sasuke look alike, especially with her long hair. But, Tenzo thinks, she looks far kinder than he ever did. Under all the pacifism, Itachi had had a steely edge that had always rubbed Tenzo the wrong way. Sasuke doesn't have any of that, thankfully, and he hopes that she'll achieve great things not only as a ninja, but also as a trans kunoichi.

Tenzo subconsciously checks his chest binder to make sure it hasn't shifted while he wasn't paying attention.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Hatake Kakashi tailing the two teens as well and thinks that Sasuke really got lucky to have a man like him as a sensei.

…

Kakashi makes sure to check on Sakura and Naruto before he takes Sasuke out of the village for the month.

Naruto whines about favoritism as well as the temporary instructor Kakashi has hired, but it's out of his hands now. He just hopes something like this doesn't cause any kind of rift to form between Sasuke and Naruto.

Sakura didn't pass her preliminary round but he still wants to make sure she's okay.

She shuffles her feet awkwardly under Kakashi's gaze and asks, "Do you know someone who would be willing to work one-on-one with me?"

Kakashi cocks an eyebrow at the girl, "May I ask why?"

Sakura's gaze moves away from her feet to the left of Kakashi. He turns and sees Sasuke speaking quietly to her cats, waiting for Kakashi to finish up so that they can go.

"I wasn't strong enough to protect her," Sakura says bitterly.

Kakashi is pleased that Sakura has started to pull her head out of her ass and take her position as a kunoichi seriously.

"I do know someone who would be willing to work with you," he admits but puts his hands on her shoulders to get her full attention, "He won't be an easy teacher but he will teach you well."

Sakura's face is pulled into a serious and determined frown that Kakashi thinks will look quite terrifying given a few years. He just hopes that Tenzo is as easily tricked into doing things as he used to be.

…

Sasuke doesn't know what to expect in this upcoming month with her sensei. Kakashi was an eccentric man on a good day and she just hopes that he doesn't accidentally kill her or something in these few weeks together.

Several of the cats have joined them for the training and Kakashi immediately puts them all to work with his own ninken. The cats and dogs don't really like each other much but the cats have to relent that they don't have nearly the amount of field experience as the dogs do.

For Sasuke, Kakashi apparently plans on making her as fast as Rock Lee or faster.

"Your proficiency in taijutsu will make this a bit easier," Kakashi says when he sees her nervous expression, "However, it takes time to get that fast."

"What about ninjutsu?" Sasuke asks because she doesn't think for a single moment that her grand fireball jutsu will be enough to combat Gaara's sand.

Kakashi just gives her a suspicious eye smile in response, "We'll get to that later."

For the next month, Kakashi nearly runs Sasuke into the ground. She doesn't think she's ever trained this hard in her entire life. Kakashi appears to be training himself up as well which Sasuke finds a bit odd. Odd enough that she comments on it one night while they're sitting around a fire.

"Why all the extra training for yourself?"

Kakashi just shrugs, "I let myself go a bit after I was discharged from ANBU."

They both know that Sasuke had meant what he plans to use the extra training for but apparently the man is going to keep his secrets so Sasuke doesn't push.

"There's actually something I wanted to talk to you about, Sasuke," Kakashi says while turning his body to face her fully. In response, Sasuke straightens up a bit and wonders what he has to say that has him so serious.

"There are going to be a lot of foreign dignitaries and such to watch the final matches. There's been a lot of debate between the higher ups about whether or not you'll be allowed to present as a girl."

Sasuke bodily flinches at those words and starts to curl in on herself.

Kakashi continues and with a rather vindictive tone says, "I, however, think that you should do whatever you want so I say we get you a set of proper kunoichi clothes and show them exactly who you are."

Apparently when he said discussion between higher ups, he really meant the higher ups giving him an order on what he should tell Sasuke to do. That discussion clearly didn't go down very well if her sensei's tone on the matter was any indication.

She's a little flattered that he is so defensive of her.

"It's okay," Sasuke says with a shrug, "I don't think I should make too many enemies in my own village."

Kakashi shakes his head and sets a firm hand on her shoulder, "I have spent most of my life doing exactly, word for word, whatever I was told to do. It wasn't until I got older when I realized that while rules and orders are important, the heart of shinobi is far more essential."

Then Kakashi pulls away and turns back to the fire with a dark look, "I'm going to tell you how I got my sharingan and what I want you to take away from the story of my teammate is that you should never take shit from anyone."

…

Sasuke never got to meet Uchiha Obito but after hearing about his bravery, Sasuke thinks she would have really liked him.

Sasuke looks at her sensei's single sharingan and thinks that she doesn't ever want to let anyone keep her from being herself.

…

Tenzo can't help but feel as though Kakashi has tricked him into teaching this little genin. He doesn't know for sure if that's exactly what's happened, but Kakashi has only ever pulled one over on him for everything else.

Haruno Sakura is a tiny girl with hair so striking that he worries about her ability to camouflage herself. But she looks to Tenzo with such hope and determination that he knows he won't ever be able to turn her down now.

He looks to the sky and wonders if Kakashi can feel his irritation wherever he is.

…

Far away from Konoha, Hatake Kakashi pauses in his lecture to sneeze.

…


	12. Training to Grow

Tenzo frowns and crouches down to get a closer look at the chakra paper in his impromptu student's hand. Sakura looks pleased that the paper is separated perfectly in half with two different elements.

One half has crumbled away to dust and the other has become saturated with water.

This is exactly how chakra paper reacts to Tenzo's chakra natures.

"Again," he demands while plucking the destroyed paper from her hand. He gives her a fresh one and watches with a critical eye as the new one does the exact same thing that the one before it did.

Tenzo starts to wonder about this little genin that's been thrust into his care.

"I want to try to teach you something and I need you to swear your silence on this lesson," Tenzo says seriously. He grasps Sakura's tiny arms and gives them a firm squeeze to demonstrate his seriousness on this matter.

Sakura hesitates, looking back and forth between his eyes as if searching for something. She must find what she's looking for because she nods just as seriously and says, "I understand."

Tenzo wonders if maybe its fate that's brought them together.

…

Sasuke knows what chakra paper is; there was an entire unit on it in the academy. But, when her sensei hands her a piece and asks her to channel her chakra into it, she hesitates.

Her mind flashes through memories of raging storms and flashing lighting that lights up the world around it as if it were daytime. She can practically feel the rumbling thunder that would follow as it shook her very core.

Sasuke can taste lightning on her tongue as she sends her chakra into the paper. It crumples up and her fingers feel the zap of static shocks.

Kakashi looks surprised as he takes the paper from her. Their fingers brush and a shock gets sent between them.

"Your main affinity is lightning," he explains, though, it's unnecessary, as Sasuke already knows. And because she already knows, she also is aware how odd that is.

Kakashi hums as he fiddles with the crinkled paper, "Lightning affinities are rare in Fire Country. Even more so within the Uchiha clan."

Sasuke's always been an outlier and this only proves it more.

Then Kakashi turns to her with a proud look in his eye that has her freezing up. He sets a firm hand on her shoulder like she used to see her dad do to Itachi and says, "This is good; I can pass my technique on to you."

…

Naruto is splayed out in the grass and all his muscles ache with an overuse of chakra. His teacher, Jiraya comes and sits down next to him with a sigh.

"So, tell me about yourself," the old man requests, "Do you have a girlfriend?"

The word 'girlfriend' has Naruto's face lighting up in a blush and the other man is quick to poke fun.

Naruto wouldn't call him and Sasuke a couple but maybe some day it could be that way. He thinks that maybe they both need to grow as people before they could ever be anything more than teammates.

Naruto wants to become strong for Sasuke.

"There's this girl I like," Naruto admits when he realizes he's gone too long without answering, "and I think she might like me back."

Unbeknownst to Naruto, Jiraya is well aware of the tentative relationship forming between the boy and his odd teammate, Sasuke. The older man thinks he should quash this crush before it can develop into anything; two men together were just weird.

"You know," Jiraya begins while keeping a close eye on Naruto's reactions, "Sasuke will grow out of this phase of his and he'll be pretty embarrassed about it later on. You should probably look to other options."

Before Jiraya can hardly get the last sentence out, Naruto is swiping at him with a kunai.

"Shut up," the boy growls at him in a decidedly inhuman like manner that is enhanced with his slitted, red eyes.

No matter, Jiraya thinks, he'll probably be able to convince Naruto at a later time.

…

Chidori comes to Sasuke like breathing and she can't help but smile at the electric zing that flows through her system as her palm lights up. Stray bolts of electricity zap and burn the ground around her and her hair practically stands on end as she acts as a lightening rod to her own technique. No wonder her sensei's hair seemed impossible to tame at any given moment.

She supposes it makes sense that her own hair was impossible to tame. She remembers years of frustration as a child who, no matter what she did, couldn't get the back of her hair to lay flat.

Kakashi is circling her with his sharingan active as he takes in her form and the technique itself.

Not able to hold it for very long yet, Sasuke releases the jutsu and leans forward with her hands on her knees. She's winded but it's a good exhaustion that makes her feel like she's done a good job.

"That was good," Kakashi says, stopping before her with an eye smile, "Do it again and try to hold it longer this time."

Sasuke nearly groans out loud but complies and tries to keep her focus during the jutsu. This would be a long few weeks.

…

Tenzo nearly has a heart attack when a small tree sprout starts to grow in front of Sakura.

He runs his hands shakily through his hair and curses Kakashi's name to the high heavens. Just where the fuck did he find this girl?

Sakura doesn't seem to realize the gravity of what she's done because she lets out a cheer at her success and does a little dance.

Tenzo can't believe a little girl with bright pink hair was going to kill him with stress.

…


	13. Snakes and Snails and Puppy-dog Tails

It's addicting being able to control nature, Sakura thinks. Every time she makes a new plant grow, her body buzzes with excitement and she has to be stopped more than once by Tenzo before she sends herself into chakra exhaustion.

Never before has Sakura felt so in tune with the world around her. She was always an outcast, never pretty enough, never strong enough, but now she isn't. No, it's everyone else who doesn't fit right and she can feel the way nature rejects their forms and chakra. It doesn't reject her, though.

As the flowers in the training field all turn their faces towards her like she's the sun, Sakura refuses to ever let herself be a reject again.

…

Naruto isn't quite sure what prompts him to go seeking out the demon in his stomach. Perhaps its curiosity but maybe it's because he wants to see just what everyone is so terrified of that they made him a pariah just for housing it.

After Ino had mind walked Sasuke in the forest of death, she had explained to Naruto and Sakura the concept of mindscapes. The way they appear says a lot about a person apparently and so Naruto knows that his own appearing as a sewer isn't a good thing.

It stinks and the water is murky. The walls are tall and plated with rusted steel that tower above him so high that the ceiling is just darkness.

It's an absolute labyrinth in his mindscape with never ending hallways that twist and turn. He doesn't like the way it makes him feel.

It takes him what seems like hours of exploring before he finds himself before a set of golden bars with a large paper seal in the center of them. Just beyond the bars and the darkness, he can make out a truly enormous form that's breathing deeply as if asleep.

" **What do you want?"** asks a deep, rumbling voice that shakes the very walls and sends ripples across the water.

The voice sounds bored, or maybe perhaps resigned as if this is just something that happens all the time. Maybe it is for a creature like the kyūbi.

Naruto squares his shoulders and looks up and past the looming bars and says, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I'm your host."

It's silent for a few moments before a truly malicious energy seeps past the bars of the cage. The water bubbles as if its being boiled and it turns a blood red. Large, slitted eyes peer down at him with a sneer that has Naruto cowing.

" **Leave."** the creature demands but Naruto doesn't want to go.

"It's common curtesy to introduce yourself when someone tells you their name," Naruto scolds while squinting up at the creature to hide his fear.

Naruto only just barely jumps out of the way of gigantic claws slipping past the bars to spear him.

It's enough to knock him out of his own mindscape and he wakes up in his bed with a frown.

He refused to just give up that easily.

For the next month as Naruto prepares for the final round of the chūnin exams, he makes sure to spend at least a few minutes every day talking to the kyūbi.

It's usually about nothing and everything; Naruto just talks at the creature as much as he can.

"There's a girl on my genin team," Naruto says while floating on top of the water, "I really like her and I plan to make myself strong for her."

" **Do you ever shut up?"** the kyūbi bites out past large, bared teeth.

Naruto smiles up at the creature, "No way!"

Despite how grumpy the fox is, Naruto thinks this could be the beginning to a beautiful friendship.

…

 _Sasuke curls up behind several trash cans and buries her face into the soft fabric of her blue dress. In the distance she can hear screaming and the sound of high level jutsu being used._

 _Sasuke is breathing heavily and she can feel tears slipping down her face._

Sasuke sits up with gasp and has to put her head between her knees to stop the nauseous feeling that overcomes her.

From above, a deep voice asks, "You okay?"

She looks up at Kakashi from behind her messy hair. He's got a funny look on his face and he's pointedly glancing at her shaking hands.

Sasuke stuffs them into the pocket of her hoodie and stands up from her bedroll, "Are we going to be leaving soon?"

Kakashi looks at her for a bit longer before saying, "In a bit, there's a few things I want to go over before we leave."

Here, Kakashi looks a bit embarrassed as he reveals a brown paper covered package that he was hiding behind his back. He gives it to Sasuke and she hesitates before pealing back the paper.

Inside are clothes—new ones— and obviously she does not understand just what these are because Kakashi rushes to explain.

"One of your mom's genin teammates is still alive and she agreed to make these for you," Kakashi says while reaching out and running his fingers along the thick, blue fabric, "These clothes almost perfectly match what your mom used to wear when she was your age."

Sasuke doesn't realize she's crying until she sees drops of water darken the fabric in her hands. Then, Kakashi just makes the moment so much more amazing because he produces from his pocket a picture of her mom with her genin team.

Sasuke looks just like her and she traces the image of her mom's young, scowling face with care. Then, Sasuke looks at the other people in the photo.

One woman has brown hair and her distinct eye shape as well as the way she wears it in a slicked back ponytail tells Sasuke that she's a Nara. The other woman has a big, stupid grin on her face that reminds Sasuke of Naruto and her hair is a striking, fiery red. Sasuke has never met either of these women but she's grateful to whichever one it was who made her these clothes.

"Go get cleaned up and put them on, and then we'll head out," Kakashi instructs before turning to start cleaning up their campsite.

Sasuke clutches the new clothes tight to her chest and hopes that wherever her mom is, that she can see her become a wonderful kunoichi.

…

Naruto hasn't seen hide or tail of Sasuke or Kakashi all month. Sakura watches him pace at the entrance of the arena with a raised brow, "I'm sure Kakashi-sensei's just making them late."

Probably, but it doesn't settle Naruto's nerves. Gaara was dangerous and he wasn't so sure Sasuke would be able to take the Suna genin without getting hurt.

A horn sounds and Naruto knows he needs to get in the arena before he gets disqualified. He looks around at all the tourists making their way to the grandstands and hopes that Sasuke is okay.

…

Neji's seal on his forehead makes Naruto sick to look at and his skin feels itchy where he knows his own seal to be. Naruto glances around at all the spectators who know what he is and hate him for it. Just like how half the Hyūga are hated for being what they are.

It isn't fair, Naruto knows that, but it still doesn't excuse what an absolute shitty person Neji is. Naruto says as much out loud and the other teen's face pinches up in disgust.

In the back of Naruto's mind he can hear the kyūbi growling. Whether its at Neji and his talk of fate, or if its at Naruto and his thoughts of revealing his own seal; Naruto isn't sure. But, he sends strong feelings of comfort and calm to the being in his stomach and that quiets the kyūbi.

Naruto won't let himself lose to a guy like this and the feeling of the kyūbi agreeing with him makes Naruto grin.

…

Kakashi makes them wait on the roof of the grandstands.

"For a dramatic entrance," he explains with an eye smile.

Sasuke rolls her own eyes and gets comfortable on the tiles while the matches continue down below.

She's nervous, terrified actually would be a better description, but Kakashi has assured her she has this fight in the bag. She sure hopes so because she doesn't plan on letting the guy squish her into a paste any time soon.

When it's her time to appear, Kakashi provides the dramatics that he so wanted. The two of them shunshin in the center of the arena in a swirl of leaves. Sasuke is definitely going to make fun of her sensei later for this.

The crowd goes silent as they take Sasuke in. No doubt she's haunting sight, especially to those who once knew Uchiha Mikoto.

No one is more haunted by her visage, though, than a one Nara Shikaku. He stands from his seat in shock when the teen and Kakashi appear in the arena and Inoichi lets out a surprised gasp next to him.

The crowd erupts into murmurs of Sasuke's mother's name and all the while Sasuke stands with her chin tilted up and her shoulders squared.

Gods, Shikaku thinks, the girl even holds herself like Mikoto used to.

"That's not Mikoto-chan," Inoichi says while setting a concerned hand onto Shikaku's forearm. The Nara shakes it off with a grunt and sits back down.

Long ago, when youth still rounded Shikaku's face, he was in love with a girl named Uchiha Mikoto. She was fierce and beautiful and she could kick his ass six ways to Sunday. However, she could not love him back.

No—Uchiha Mikoto was the only heir to the head of the Uchiha clan. She was practically a princess, all things considered, and she was faithful to her people. The girl had been promised to be wed long before Shikaku had even met her and she would follow through with the marriage.

Shikaku was in a similar situation himself, he too was the only heir to the Nara clan head and as such he also had a prearranged marriage contract. He would have abandoned his clan for Mikoto but she would have never done the same for him.

And she never would; because one spring, during a lull in the third shinobi war, Uchiha Mikoto marries Uchiha Fugaku and Shikaku claps and celebrates like everyone else in attendance.

He would get married himself later that year in the fall to Mikoto's teammate, Nara Yoshino.

Seeing Sasuke dressed like Mikoto stirs up long dead memories that make Shikaku's chest feel like it's being crushed. He wonders if, in another life, Sasuke would have been theirs. Shikaku will admit he doesn't know the first thing about Uchiha customs or how they raise their progenies, but he wouldn't have cared. He would have loved Sasuke as fiercely as he loves his son, Shikamaru.

He never married Mikoto and Sasuke was never his, but he'll be damned if he ever lets anything happen to the girl.

Silently and to himself, Shikaku makes a vow to be an invisible guardian to Sasuke. He will do his best to protect her from the monsters that lurk in the shadows. Especially, Shikaku thinks as he turns and catches a glimpse of a scowling Danzo—from men like him.

…

Gaara cocoons himself in a dome of sand and Sasuke sits on the wall of the arena while she thinks. She has a few ideas of how she could penetrate the shield of sand but she isn't sure if she wants to risk being squashed if she gets her arm stuck using the chidori.

Sasuke glances at her sensei in the grandstands. Even though he's in the back near the wall, he's easy to spot with his gravity defying hair.

Sasuke grins as an idea forms in her head. She reaches into her pouch and pulls out a sealing scroll. Upon opening it, a torrent of water gushes from the paper, flooding the arena floor and soaking Gaara's sand.

Kakashi had theorized that it could potentially buy her time in case she needed it but that's not what Sasuke's going to use this for.

A second scroll in her pouch houses her large weapons. She takes all of them out and scatters the arena with them. To an outsider, all it looks like Sasuke's done is make a huge mess of the place, but if anyone knows her sensei, they might know what she's planning.

Chidori usually needs to be a constantly moving, piercing attack otherwise the user becomes a lightening rod to the technique that can damage the nervous system. To be honest, Sasuke hasn't really been able to feel her left arm all that well since her sensei taught her the technique.

Taking a deep breath, Sasuke jumps off the wall, placing herself in the air right above Gaara's sand as well as one of her fuma shuriken sticking out of the dome. In the moments she's in the air, she forms the seals of chidori and before she's even in contact with the shuriken, her lightning is being drawn to it.

The arena floor lights up in a crackling display of electricity and Sasuke's hair stands on end as it courses through her.

From inside the dome, Gaara is screaming as the wet sand allows for the lightening to shock him.

The convulsions that Gaara is no doubt experiencing cause his sand shield to malfunction. The sand splits apart and Sasuke uses the opportunity to slip past and land the hardest punch she can manage to the other genin's face.

Gaara tumbles to the ground and the sand dome finishes disintegrating around them. The body armor is cracked where Sasuke has punched him and blood is gushing out of his mouth.

Sasuke is winding her arm back to deliver another punch when a foreign chakra starts to invade her system. There's a mass genjutsu being placed over the arena and Sasuke is quick to snap out of it before it can send her to sleep.

Gaara uses her distraction to knock her back several meters and she hits the ground with a grunt.

It's complete chaos after that.

Gaara and his sibling slip away from the arena and up in the grandstands the sounds of fighting can be heard. Sasuke is torn; on one hand she wants to go stand side by side with her teammates and fight the foreign invaders. On the other, she wants to see just what Gaara and his siblings are up to.

Making a quick decision, Sasuke follows after Gaara.

…

Kakashi lets out a low curse when he sees Sasuke go vaulting up and over the arena wall to fallow after Suna's jincūriki. The Sound shinobi fighting him tries to use his distraction to slip past his guard with a kunai but Kakashi is too good for such a trick. He easily bats the man's weapon away and uses his own kunai to cut the man's throat.

Naruto and Sakura are watching with wide, frightened eyes from where they're crouched under the bleachers. Kakashi makes his way over to them quickly while summoning Pakkun.

"Take the other genin and follow after Sasuke and Gaara," he commands his students gruffly, "She's not going to be able to fight all alone."

Kakashi's attention his pulled from the kids as he blocks a barrage of weapons sailing towards them. He doesn't see them leave but they must because when he looks back they're gone.

…

Sakura is scared.

Gaara has turned into some kind of monster and he's pinned Sasuke to a tree. Naruto is struggling to get back up and she's watching it all happen and feeling helpless.

Sakura clenches her fists and the surrounding plant life shifts with her emotions. She's tired of being helpless.

The last thing Sakura remembers are the trees bursting out with their branches and stabbing through Gaara's sand.


	14. Funeral Flowers

Morino Ibiki is an intimidating man to have as a proctor for a written exam, but to be interrogated by him is even worse. Sasuke feels pinned by his sharp gaze and the only thing she can look at are the bruises and cuts lining her arms. The room is small and concrete and it makes her feel all the more trapped. Academy training tells Sasuke that this is to help loosen the tongue of a suspect. They just never mentioned what it would feel like if _they_ were to end up being the suspect.

"Now tell me," Ibiki says taking a seat across from Sasuke, "what exactly did you see occur at 1400 hours today?"

Ibiki's bulk means that even sitting down, he easily towers over Sasuke's hunched form and as an interrogator he knows it too.

Sasuke is scared; she isn't sure what she's supposed to say or what she should reveal of the fight that went down between her team and Gaara.

Steeling her nerves, Sasuke takes a deep breath.

…

As Sakura's chakra bursts into the surrounding plant life, the world seems to explode into chaos. Gaara lets out a ground-shaking roar when his sand body is pierced by branches and he drops Sasuke like a hot potato.

Thankfully, Naruto gets up in time to catch Sasuke before she can break her neck falling from that height.

Sakura twists and turns the trees around them and to any outside viewer, they would say that the forest took on a truly angry energy that moved the very bodies of the plants. Sasuke and Naruto watch with wide eyes and gaping mouths.

However, Sakura's success in this battle is limited as her mokuton abilities are still new. Gaara is able to find a way to overpower the branches before Sakura can really get a good grip on him and she's forced to release the jutsu with a panting breath.

Naruto takes over again, leaping onto Gaara with a barrage of shadow clones.

Sakura jumps down to the branch Sasuke is resting on and starts checking her wounds.

"I guess me and Naruto weren't the only ones training this past month," Sasuke comments dryly. Speaking irritates her broken rips and so she lets out a pained wheeze.

"Don't talk," Sakura instructs firmly while gently adjusting Sasuke's body to lay flat.

"N-Naruto," Sasuke starts to argue but Sakura just moves to block Sasuke's sight of the on going fight.

"He's got this," and the way Sakura says that is so certain that Sasuke relaxes and lets out a slow breath.

…

Kakashi thinks that Tenzo has finally found a way to get back at him for all the times Kakashi picked on him. As he looks around at the aftermath of the battle between Suna's jinchūriki and his genin students, he thinks that there's going to be nothing but headaches from here on out.

Mokuton is unmistakable to a trained jōnin such as himself and Kakashi has to sit down on a fallen tree to catch his bearings when he sees it.

That brat Tenzo was going to really get it now if Kakashi had anything to say about it.

The kids are all piled together under an enclave of fallen trees. They look up with big, wary eyes when Kakashi approaches and it makes him feel like he's a hundred years old.

"Did we win?" Naruto asks innocently and Kakashi slouches down against broken branches to sit next to the kids.

"In a way, I suppose."

Kakashi doesn't want to tell them that the Third Hokage didn't make it. They looked like they had too much to deal with already.

Kakashi looks up and around at the after effects of Sakura's mokuton, then, "You did good, Sakura."

The teen blushes at the compliment and gives a jerking nod.

Kakashi turns serious and looks each of the teens in the eyes when he says, "No one is to know what Sakura can do."

It's an order and the three of them give confirming nods.

Kakashi needs to take them back to the village to receive medical care but for now he supposes they can just rest.

…

Ibiki's face is pinched into a scowl that could make any unsuspecting chūnin wet themselves and Kakashi just eye smiles in return.

"Mah," Kakashi drawls in a friendly tone, "is there anything else you need of my dearest students?"

Ibiki looks like he wants to bash Kakashi's face into the nearest wall. The interrogator lets out a noise akin to a boiling over teapot and just stomps away.

Kakashi's going to count that as a point in Team 7's favor.

Sasuke exits the interrogation room with hunched shoulders and a bowed head. She doesn't hesitate to bury her face into Kakashi's flack jacket and let out a few shaky sobs.

Kakashi sighs and pats the girl's head; two steps forward and thirty back.

…

Sasuke hates funerals. The one following the Uchiha massacre had been long and drawn out and all the attendees couldn't stop staring at her.

Sasuke can feel curious eyes on her back as she leaves a flower for her fallen Kage. No doubt Sakura and Naruto are feeling the same unnerving gazes themselves as Team 7 had gotten a bit of a reputation following the invasion.

They were technically heroes and as such had received medals for their exemplary service. There was no ceremony or anything, though, because Naruto was the jinchūriki and Sasuke was the younger sibling of a maniac. People didn't really want to celebrate anything about them.

As soon as the funeral service is over, Sasuke is hightailing it out of there along with her teammates. They actually beat their sensei to his apartment and feel no qualms about breaking in and setting up a pillow fort in his living room.

Kakashi's dogs are there today and they form a big puppy pile with the three teens.

The teens bury their faces into furry stomachs and all agree that they just want this day to end.

…

Itachi remembers so clearly when Sasuke was born. He remembers the long months of watching in wonder as his mother's stomach got bigger and then also the hours in the waiting room of the hospital when she goes into labor.

He remembers the first time he held Sasuke in his arms and he can even recall what he was thinking.

'Wow, this baby is kind of ugly,' were his exact thoughts as he took in Sasuke's squished, red face. He didn't care that his sibling was ugly, though, he loved Sasuke all the same.

-Loved the child so much, in fact, that he was certain he could say that he loved Sasuke more than his own parents.

Sasuke was the light of his life— is still, as thoughts of the child are the only thing keeping Itachi going. And it's those desperate thoughts of Sasuke's safety that spur Itachi into convincing Kisame into helping him sneak into a recently destroyed Konoha.

One look, Itachi thinks, one look is all he needs. He just needs to see Sasuke alive and whole and then they can move on.

If he can't find Sasuke, though, Itachi isn't quite sure what he'll do as a reaction but he knows it won't be good for anyone or anything surrounding him.

…

Amidst the chaos of the recent invasion, the nin-neko's of Uchiha Sasuke use the distraction to do some investigating.

Bonbon slips down into where he's seen the lifeless humans come and go and he sticks to the shadows while he creeps. The cats all agree something strange is going on in Konoha that the general public and shinobi populace are not privy to.

The strange hidden base Bonbon has found goes deep underground into the heart of Konoha. So deep that the cat is certain most Hyūga wouldn't notice it unless they were actively looking for it.

Bonbon goes looking for a records room as soon as he's in the base. All the cats need is proof that something is happening.

Its there amongst dusty shelves and countless scrolls and file folders that Bonbon finds a section marked with and uchiwa fan. His stub of a tail puffs out in alarm and his one ear pins back against his head.

The section is mostly file folders but there is a large scroll tucked in there as well. Bonbon wraps his jaws around it and leaves as quickly as he came. He isn't sure what he's just grabbed but if it has something to do with Sasuke, the cats will figure it out.

When he gets back to the Uchiha compound, Bonbon immediately hands the scroll over to Orenji.

The orange cat's eyes narrow at the scroll and he scrutinizes Bonbon, "Where did you get this?"

"I went into the lifeless humans' base."

Bonbon shrinks in on himself at the surrounding alarmed hisses that come from all the other cats. Orenji looks thoughtful, though, and with a swipe of his paw he opens the scroll.

What they find is truly horrifying.

Orenji makes them roll it back up and he turns to Bonbon, "You need to put this back where you found it."

The cats all object but the tomcat silences them, "There is no one to turn this over to right now. For now we just need to keep our eyes and ears open and wait for an opportunity to strike."

Bonbon puffs his whole body up and gets in Orenji's face, "We have a scroll that says the Uchiha massacre was ordered by Konoha and you want me to put it back?!"

Orenji just pins Bonbon down with a cool, yellow stare, "Yes. Trust me, we need to be careful how we proceed if only for Sasuke's sake."

Bonbon searches the other feline's eyes and droops when he finds what he was looking for.

"I'll put the scroll back but something better come of this," Bonbon spits before picking up the scroll and leaving the compound to return it.

The other cats turn to look at Orenji with wide, worried eyes, "Are you sure this is the right move?"

Orenji turns from them and says over his shoulder, "Like I said to Bonbon, we need to use caution from here on out."


	15. Close Encounter

Back when Kakashi was an ANBU captain, he had Uchiha Itachi on his team. He remembers the kid's first day and how despite his too-serious demeanor, there was an air of anxiety that followed him everywhere. All that negative emotion would vanish, however, whenever the topic of his younger sibling would come up.

Itachi's eyes would get this sparkle and his voice would become gentler.

"Sasuke is the top of his class," Itachi would brag to anyone who would listen, "he's going to be a shinobi far greater than any of us."

Tenzo would listen to every word with rapt attention but Kakashi would zone out and read Icha Icha instead.

He kind of gets where Itachi was coming from now.

Kakashi wants to brag about Sasuke to everyone, too.

"She mastered chidori in under a week," he wants to say when the other jōnin instructors are talking about their students, "Her sharingan already has two tomoe each."

Kakashi doesn't ever end up bragging, though; he usually ends up being too awkward to try and fit into the conversations. When he and Gai are alone, however, they both go on and on for hours about their little powerhouses in the making.

"Neji asked me to ask you to see if Sasuke-chan would want to spar with him," Gai tells Kakashi when they've stopped to rest from their most recent challenge. A silly look crosses Gai's face and he giggles, "I think my most youthful student has a crush on Sasuke-chan."

Kakashi has to chuckle at that too because if Naruto and Sakura ever catch wind that Sasuke has admirers, they would lock the girl up to protect her virtue.

"I'll see what I can do," Kakashi drawls while standing up, "Sasuke's pretty shy so she might need to be warmed up to the idea."

Gai nods in understanding and uses Kakashi's offered hand to stand up as well. Gai's large eyebrows pinch together in the middle of his forehead and he regards Kakashi seriously, "You've done more for that girl than I think you realize, my rival. I'm proud of you."

Before Gai can get too mushy with feelings, Kakashi flees to escape a talk that he finds too embarrassing.

Later, though, when Kakashi's students are making a mess of his apartment yet again, he thinks about what Gai said.

The three teens are taking silly photographs with Sasuke's camera and they've talked Kakashi's dogs into joining them as well. Sasuke doesn't hesitate to grin and laugh and her voice, while soft, is her own and not her cats.

'I'm proud of you, Sasuke,' Kakashi thinks as he begrudgingly joins the kids for a few photos.

…

Kakashi is awake long before the pups and he tries to go about his morning routine quietly as not to wake them. Before he leaves his apartment to begin his patrol shift, he peals back the top of the pillow fort.

The pups are still sleeping and he carefully replaces the blanket to its original position. Bull, who's lounging in front of the pillow fort peers up at him with a questioning look. Kakashi signs to dog to let the kids know that he'll be free to have lunch with them today. Bull gives a huff in acknowledgment and goes back to sleep.

Kakashi double checks everything is in order and he leaves.

Later today, Jiraya will be taking Naruto with him to go search for Tsunade. The two of them have agreed that if anyone can get the stray woman to return to Konoha, it'll be Naruto. Kakashi hopes that Jiraya can take Sasuke with them, too. He thinks that Tsunade will take a shine to the girl and that that will help influence her to return as well. He'd also send Sakura with them but she needs to help her parents with repairs to their house.

His shift passes slowly and with the boring monotony that only patrol shifts can have. When his lunch break comes around, he's practically bored to tears and he makes his way to the teahouse that he and his team usually meet at— on time for once.

The kids are already there and they're standing outside chatting while waiting for him. He takes them in with a smile.

Kakashi is pleased with how far they've already come despite their terrible luck.

As he begins crossing the street to his students, Kakashi catches sight of something that has his blood running cold. Sitting in the teahouse, he sees the back of a man he'd recognize anywhere. Uchiha Itachi looks over his shoulder at Kakashi with a ruby stare and Kakashi's hand twitches towards his kunai pouch on instinct. Then, Kakashi remembers who's standing just outside of the restaurant and his instincts to protect his pups overrides his rage at the sight of a traitor.

"Yo," Kakashi greets the three teens as causally as he can physically manage despite his panic, "I know I said we could have lunch but something came up that I need to go take care of. You guys go on ahead."

When Kakashi looks again, Itachi and whoever was with him are gone from the teahouse and he curses under his breath. Kakashi doesn't wait to hear with the teens have to say before he leaves to chase after Itachi.

The three teens share a look when their sensei disappears and Sakura asks wryly, "I wonder who lit a fire under sensei's ass."

Naruto giggles and Sasuke shrugs with her own confused expression.

Sakura sighs, "Whatever, I need to go help my parents anyways. I'll see you guys later."

Naruto turns to Sasuke, "Want to go see what the Pervy Sage is up to?"

Sasuke doesn't have anything else going on in her life so she agrees. Later, she also doesn't see a reason to not go with the two to Shukuba Town in search of the wayward Senju Tsunade.

…

Kakashi's first mistake was thinking that he'd trained his sharingan up enough to handle taking Itachi all on his own. As he falls unconscious after what felt like an eon of torture, all Kakashi can think is that he needs to keep the man away from Sasuke.

…

Even though Orenji has never seen what Uchiha Itachi looks like, he's able to recognize him as soon as he sees him. He knows that this man sneaking around in Shukuba Town is Itachi because he and Sasuke look so frighteningly similar.

If the man has noticed that every single stray cat in the town fold their ears back at the sight of him, he hasn't given any indication. His large, blue companion, however, pinches his face up in confusion.

"The cats in Fire Country sure are strange, eh Itachi?" he asks with a chuckle, "Why, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that they all know you."

Orenji decides to use that as a prompt for him and the other ninneko to corner the two shinobi in an alleyway.

…

Itachi and Kisame halt as dozens of cats surround them. A fat orange tomcat hops up onto a trashcan and addresses them with a toothy grin.

"Hello, gentlemen; we need to have a chat."

Kisame guffaws in surprise, "I can't say I've ever seen a talking cat before."

Itachi frowns, "What do you want?"

"You see, we were all taken in off the streets by our boss," the orange cat begins.

A calico interjects, "Boss took us in when no one else would!"

All the cats in the alley chorus in agreement and the orange cat nods before continuing, "So, we're all rather protective of our boss."

"Who's your owner?" Kisame asks with a wry grin.

Itachi's frown deepens with the cat replies with, "Uchiha Sasuke."

Kisame sends a contemplative look in Itachi's direction, "I thought they were all wiped out… by you."

The orange cat's grin widens like something out of a fairytale, "Nah, see boss's brother left Sasuke alive. It just so happens, we figured out why."

There's a kunai pressed to the chest of the cat instantly and Itachi's sharingan is spinning threateningly.

The cat, for all he's worth, doesn't look frightened in the slightest, "Boss doesn't know, don't worry."

Itachi's kunai eases its pressure.

"Like I was saying, we're rather protective of Sasuke and boss has taken in a lot of us when boss didn't have to. So, we return the favor by being the eyes and ears of Konoha for Sasuke, even if boss doesn't know it."

Kisame's laughs echo, "A person with a spy network who doesn't even know they have one!"

The orange cat nods, "That's correct," he turns his too sharp eyes to Itachi and that grin is slipping from his whiskered face, "Root is quite troublesome, wouldn't you agree?"

Itachi puts his kunai away and turns to leave the alley but the cats block his path with hisses.

"There's also the issue of that Orochimaru fellow," the orange cat says while standing up with an exaggerated stretch, "Left his nasty mark on boss and everything. I imagine if that snake doesn't get Sasuke, Danzo will."

"You ought to keep your information to yourself if you know what's good for you," Itachi says with a glare.

The cat's tail flicks in a way that reads as a shrug, "We just wanted to give you a heads up is all."

…

Itachi is mildly thankful for the cat's heads up when Sasuke answers the door instead of Naruto.

Itachi probably would've reacted fairly badly at the sight if he hadn't already encountered Sasuke's ninneko.

Sasuke makes quite the sight; the teenager has longer hair than Itachi and while being a little too thin, looks to be holding up okay without Itachi there to watch over her.

Sasuke's eyes flash in fear and quickly dart away so that she isn't caught in any ocular jutsu.

"Sasuke," Itachi demurs and the teenager flinches at his voice.

A black cat pops her head out of the neck of Sasuke's jacket and hisses at Itachi.

"Mrrr, why are you here? Are you going to hurt Sasuke, mrrrr?" it comes out in a growling tone and Itachi quirks a brow.

Another black cat is coming out from the room and calling over his shoulder, "Naruto, stay back."

Kisame scowls, "I'm getting quite sick of all these cats."

Sasuke closes the door behind herself and presses her body against the wood, blocking the two missing-nin from entering.

"Move, brother, this has nothing to do with you."

Sasuke, still not looking at Itachi, shakes her head.

Kiki pipes up, "Mrrr, we won't let you hurt Naruto, mrrr."

Itachi has his hand around Sasuke's throat in the next instant, shoving her against the door. He ignores the black cat desperately clawing at his hand to make him let go.

"Foolish little brother," he says, griping harder and trying to get her to look him in the eye. She's smarter than that it seems and resolutely keeps her eyes downcast.

So softly, and far more quietly than Itachi would ever expect from Sasuke, she asks, "Will you kill me if I don't move?"

Itachi frowns, "You're different, now."

Sasuke finally raises her eyes to meet those of Itachi's, "I'm not afraid of you."

Kisame chuckles and Itachi internally sighs before activating his mangekyo sharingan, regretful that he has to hurt Sasuke like this again.

The teenager crumples in his hands and Itachi drops her to the floor. The cats are trying to wake her up desperately, yowling in alarm when Sasuke doesn't respond.

Naruto is throwing open the door and crouching down to Sasuke's side, "You hurt her, you bastard! I'll kill you!"

Before Itachi can contemplate the pronoun usage, Jiraya of the Sannin appears at the end of the hall and the two Akatsuki members know they need to make a hasty retreat.

Itachi spends days after his encounter with his sibling contemplating not only the way Sasuke looked, but also the pronoun usage that Naruto had used.

Sasuke probably doesn't remember this, but when she was very little she had once asked Itachi what was between her legs. He had been confused at first and had as helpfully as he could, explained that that was Sasuke's penis. Sasuke's tiny face had scrunched up in distaste at the explanation and had said with unshakeable certainty, "I didn't used to have one. I used to be a girl."

Itachi had been put off by the comment for a long time but ended up forgetting about it and Sasuke never said anything weird like that again. Now, that memory is back at the forefront of Itachi's mind and he begins to wonder about his younger sibling.

…

Kurama has never seen his newest host so angry before and he finds it horribly delicious. The teen is standing before his cage with shadowed eyes and clenched teeth.

" **You want to kill that sharingan user,"** Kurama says knowing that this may be his only opportunity to convince the brat to rip the seal off his cage, **"I can give you the power."**

Naruto flashes a cold glare up at him and if Kurama were a lesser creature, he's certain he'd be cowed by the sheer murder dancing in the teen's eyes. He thinks he once saw that wretched Fourth Hokage with a similar expression.

"Why do people hurt each other?" Naruto grinds out past bared teeth, "Why did that man hurt Sasuke?"

Kurama used to wonder the same thing back when he was new and naive. The Sage, his father, had simply said that that is the way of life and that it would be their choice to follow the example or to forge their own paths. Kurama and his siblings had been stupidly determined to be like their father who was so forgiving no matter the slight. But, one can only be spit at so many times before they snap their teeth in retaliation.

" **Humans are creatures of evil far more fowl than even a being such as myself,"** Kurama rumbles, **"It is simply your nature to hurt and kill."**

Naruto slams his hands against the bars of the cage, "Bullshit! I'll never be like that!"

Kurama laughs meanly, **"You are a fool to believe that you to will not succumb to the hate of your fellow man!"**

Naruto, small and still chubby with baby fat roars up at Kurama as if he were full grown, "I'll prove you wrong! I'll change this world and fight against all the hate! I don't care if that makes me a fool, I'll be a fool my whole life, then!"

Kurama finds himself quieted by the kit's determination and rolls his eyes, deigning that this conversation will clearly go nowhere.

Before Naruto leaves his mindscape, he looks up at Kurama one last time and says with a sharp grin, "I'll get rid of all that hate, starting with you!"

Kurama should've seen it for the warning that it was.

…


	16. Awaken

Tsunade is an absolute vision to look at, Jiraya thinks. Even though he knows she only looks young because of a jutsu, he still thinks she's beautiful.

Naruto seems struck by her appearance as well if his wide eyes are anything to go by.

Jiraya could wax poetic about how Tsunade's eyes are warm like cider and how she has Lord First's cupid's bow. He could go on forever about how she carries herself like a tigress, proud and sure, or about how he knows her hair to be soft like silk. Yeah—Jiraya could say a lot of things but he finds that mushy shit isn't really his style and he knows Tsunade wouldn't be one to appreciate it either.

So, what comes out of his mouth is a crass comment about her breasts while his mind is more focused on the way her neck meets her collarbone and how he thinks she's a specimen of perfection.

Naruto gives him a scowling look that actually makes him feel sheepish for a moment.

"What the hell do you want?" Tsunade drunkenly slurs, interrupting whatever reprimand Naruto was about to deliver unto Jiraya.

Naruto frowns at the woman for a moment before he opens his mouth and begins preforming his uncanny ability to make even the most hardened shinobi gentle.

That boy could sway the very mountains with his words, Jiraya thinks. Perhaps it was prophetic that Minato named him after the character in his book. A character who was just as unwavering as the flesh and blood Naruto is in front of him.

Jiraya thinks that Naruto is going to change the world.

…

Naruto reminds Tsunade of everyone she's ever lost. The similarities are so striking that if she doesn't completely focus on the boy when he's talking, she hallucinates her brother or Dan in his stead. But then, Tsunade thinks, those two weren't quite as boyishly charming as Naruto is. No, the one Naruto really reminds her of, is her grandfather, Hashirama.

Gods, she hasn't thought about him in years.

She was young when he died so her memories of him are sparse, but she does intimately recall him spoiling the ever-loving crap out of her. Grandma Mito would scold him for it and he would apologize profusely. But then, as soon as she'd turn her back, grandpa Hashi would go right on back to giving Tsunade stacks of cash and pretty dolls.

He was a ridiculous man with ridiculously outlandish dreams. Tsunade is oddly comforted that there is another who will most definitely fill his shoes someday.

…

There's a lot riding on Naruto right now.

The village needs a kage, Sasuke and Kakashi need a healer, and Naruto needs to prove to this woman that he is worthy of her attention.

This Tsunade lady looks at him the same way that Kakashi-sensei does. They look at him like he brings physical pain to them just with his appearance. They also both look at him like he has all the answers somehow. It scares Naruto sometimes, the way certain people look at him; like he's a ghost or something.

The thing that keeps Naruto going in his training to master rasengan most of all, is how Sasuke looks at him. She's shy, so she doesn't make much eye contact, but when she does, he swears the whole world just stops. Sasuke looks at him the way he's always wanted to be looked at; like he's someone important.

That's what drives him forward, knowing that there's someone waiting for him who looks at him like they just might _love_ him. Naruto swears that the thought of that alone causes the rasengan to form and hold in his hand for the first time.

…

Kakashi comes to slowly.

At first he opens both eyes before the drain of his sharingan hits him and he's forced to close it. He feels so hazy as he struggles to remember what happened and where he is. When he does, he shoots up out of the bed and goes scrambling into a defensive position.

Kakashi looks around himself with wild eyes and heaving breaths. Naruto and Sakura have been ushered behind a poised Gai who's watching him with a deep frown.

"You're in the hospital," A voice says to his left and he turns to see fucking Senju Tsunade looking as young as ever.

Then Kakashi's face goes pale, "Sasuke."

Regardless of his state of undress and the IV attached to his arm, he tries to leave the room. Jiraya blocks his path with raised hands.

"Get out of my way," Kakashi growls out past bared teeth and he disregards the fact that his face is bare for all to see; Sasuke is in danger.

"I was about to go wake her up," Tsunade says casual as can be as she moves past Kakashi's still crouched form. Kakashi follows after the woman, hot on her heels.

He feels all the energy leave his body when he sees the young teen laying comatose in a hospital bed. Thankfully Gai is right behind him to catch him before he can go sprawling across the floor.

"I-I tried to stop him," Kakashi says past a sob, "Is she going to be okay?"

Tsunade sets a glowing hand to the teen's forehead and while she heals Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura come into the hospital room. The two crowd next to Kakashi and cling to his loose hospital shirt with fearful faces.

Sasuke takes a lot longer to become conscious than Kakashi did and she looks around herself with a scrunched face that tells Kakashi she must have a headache.

"Take it slow," Tsunade instructs the girl as she moves her glowing hands across Sasuke's body, "What's the last thing you remember?"

That question seems to unleash the dam as fat tears roll down Sasuke's face and she's practically screaming with her sobs. Sasuke spots Kakashi across the room and reaches out for him while croaking out a heartbreaking, "Dad!"

Kakashi doesn't hesitate to leave Gai's supportive hold as he moves to Sasuke's bed to gather her up into his arms. She presses her face into his shoulder, and past her wails he can tell she's trying to tell him about the ninjutsu Itachi tortured her with, but it's all incoherent.

Kakashi squeezes her tight and whispers to her, "It's going to be okay, I'm here and I'm never letting that man get to you again."

It's a promise and threat all in one that's accented by his deep growl. He's going to train the shit out of his sharingan from now on and he'll never let that bastard get the upper hand again if he has anything to say about it.

Naruto and Sakura curl around Sasuke as well and bury their faces into her back.

Tsunade taps Kakashi on his shoulder and he looks to the woman while snapping out, "What?"

She raises her brow in response and he averts his gaze in apology.

"I'm going to ignore the inappropriate relationship you've developed with your genin students but I still need your report of the fight later," the woman says with a huff before practically stomping out of the hospital room.

Kakashi winces at the truth of the statement. It was heavily frowned upon to develop such close knit relationships with ones genin students as they were still so young and impressionable. Also, there was always the off chance that the kids would listen to Kakashi above any other authority figure because of their loyalty to him.

Kakashi would make sure to talk to them later about the whole thinking of him as their 'dad' thing. He honestly didn't mind that they saw him as a parent as he saw them as his pups, but some future discretion would need to be enacted.

…

Kakashi isn't able to go report to Tsunade until Sasuke falls asleep. Naruto and Sakura swear to keep watch over her while he's away.

"You know," Tsunade begins the meeting with, "I have to say, I never really saw you as the kind of guy who would be good with kids."

Kakashi doesn't say anything but even he has to admit that he's just as surprised. He loves those kids and come hell or high water, no one was going to take them away from him.

"At some point Jiraya will be taking Naruto out of the village for his protection and when he does I'm going to put you back in ANBU."

Kakashi actually flinches at that. ANBU had been a type of black hole that just sucked all the humanity out of him and he's only just recovered from those years spent in it.

"I'm making you ANBU Commander—you aren't allowed to reject either," Tsunade quickly adds when she notices his discomfort.

Kakashi's brow rises at that. The job of ANBU Commander had been offered to him many times and he had turned it down every time stating that ANBU Boar was more experienced. That wasn't actually true; Kakashi had been in ANBU a full two years before he had joined.

Kakashi runs his hand through his hair; Tsunade was Hokage now and her word was absolute, he just doesn't know if he's ready to do that yet. Especially since he spent so much time taking care of Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura.

"I understand," Kakashi eventually says while tilting his head down in a bow.

He wonders what he's going to do about Sasuke.

…

Sasuke isn't sure why she does it. Maybe she's finally snapped or perhaps she's finally becoming the person she was always meant to be. Either way, it's an interesting feeling that creeps up her spine when she stands at the edge of her compound and starts blowing fireballs at the buildings.

It doesn't take much for the whole place to go up in flames and she watches her childhood burn to the ground with a sort of detached realization that maybe she shouldn't have done this.

Emergency fire services are volunteer chūnin proficient in water jutsu and back when the Uchiha clan was alive, they had their own group set aside. Now that there's no one to watch after the compound except for Sasuke, it takes nearly thirty minutes for the first fire squad to show up. It's obvious that she was the one to start the fire and they gape at her stupidly before moving to start an attempt to put the flames out.

It's useless, the fire is too large and now it's just a matter of keeping it from spreading to the surrounding forest.

Kakashi shows up at some point, his only visible eye is wide and he's searching past the throng of fire fighters for any sign of Sasuke. He lets out a relieved sigh and hauls Sasuke into his side when he finally finds her.

"Thank the Sage," he murmurs and Sasuke doesn't think he intended for her to hear but it fills her with warmth all the same.

"I don't know why I did this," Sasuke admits to him and the fire chief when they question her, "I just couldn't take it anymore."

The fire chief thinks she's nuts, but Kakashi has this solemn look in his eye that says that he understands exactly what she's talking about.

When the fire is put out and her compound is a black pit of leveled buildings does Kakashi tug her away to his apartment.

He makes her take a shower and makes her wear some of his old training gear. Sasuke sees him tossing her clothes in the dumpster in the alley.

"My nose is sensitive," Kakashi says with a huff before removing his mask and getting started on making them both dinner.

Sasuke has never really looked at her sensei without his mask. In the hospital he wasn't wearing it but she was too distraught to take in his features. Her, Naruto and Sakura had theorized several reasons as to why he wore it and most of them boiled down to the idea he was ugly or something. He's a handsome man, actually, and he's a lot younger looking that Sasuke had anticipated him to look.

She does smile a bit at the tan lines on his face, though.

"I did the same thing to my compound after my teammate died," Kakashi admits to her later that night over dinner, "I didn't use fire but I leveled the place and then sold the property to the village."

Sasuke's only been picking at her food and the rehashing of the day's events makes her even less hungry.

Kakashi pushes his own half empty plate away from himself and asks, "Do you know what you're going to do with the land?"

Sasuke hadn't thought that far ahead and she shrugs. Though, she does admit to a fantasy she's had for a long time, "I want to make it a really big garden."

Kakashi's brow rises at that, "Oh? With trees and flowers and stuff?"

Sasuke nods and Kakashi hums while scratching at the five'o'clock shadow on his chin, "I think I know a guy who can help you with that."

Sasuke's face pinches up in confusion and Kakashi just gives her a cryptic smile in return that tugs at the edge of the scar running down the length of his cheek. She wonders if she should be concerned.

…

Kakashi's apartment apparently becomes a sleep over hot spot as he finds his pups taking over his living room more often than not.

His place is constantly a mess now and he can't go two steps without a child underfoot but he wouldn't trade it for anything.

Sasuke's nightmares are bad enough that she joins him in his bed most nights followed closely by Naruto and Sakura.

Kakashi is subjected to Naruto's octopus squeezing and Sakura's surprisingly hard kicks to his knees and shins. Sasuke practically smothers him every night with how she drapes herself across his chest. It's both hell and heaven.

Gai walks in on that one morning, actually. Kakashi's living room is torn apart and the little pillow fort the kids had started the night out in is abandoned in the corner in favor of Kakashi and his mattress next to the couch.

Gai's arms are full of grocery bags and Kakashi nearly groans out loud when he remembers that today was supposed to be their weekly breakfast/competition day.

Kakashi subtly casts a small genjutsu on the teens so that they don't wake up when he speaks to Gai, "I totally forgot, Gai, I'm sorry."

Gai just gives him a bright smile in return and the way he's looking at Kakashi and his pups is so warm, "It's alright. I'll go out and get more groceries and make breakfast for everyone."

Something in Kakashi glows in pleasure that the other man wants to provide for his pups.

…

Orenji isn't happy.

None of this was supposed to happen.

The other cats glare at his back when he passes and he can hear their hissing whispers that it's his fault Sasuke got hurt.

It is his fault, thinking that he could encourage Itachi to stop the charade. It's his entire fault.

But now— now Orenji is properly pissed off in a way he's never been before.

Orenji thinks that all these different people out to hurt Sasuke and the people she loves better watch their backs, because he's coming for them.


	17. A Plan

Neji can hardly believe what he's seeing.

After not being promoted to chūnin he had already come to terms with the fact that he'd be spending another year or so doing the landscaping for the Uchiha compound. So, when he and his team receive a mission scroll to do just that, he doesn't think anything of it. That is, until he arrives.

Half of the compound wall has collapsed and past the rubble he can see that what once was a large district has been flattened to ashes.

"W-what happened?" Tenten asks in alarm and their sensei is looking grim.

Sasuke doesn't show up to tell them what they're supposed to be doing but her sensei, Hatake Kakashi does.

"I will open some landfills and we need to get everything that's left into them," he tells them gruffly before moving away to start performing an earth jutsu.

"Now hang on a minute!" Neji snarls while stumbling over a fallen building to catch up to Kakashi, "What happened here? Where's Sasuke-san?"

Kakashi regards Neji cooly over his shoulder, "Sasuke has other matters she's attending to today and gave me permission to oversee the cleaning up of her compound."

"Did someone try to attack her? Why is the compound all burned down?" Tenten asks.

"Sasuke is renovating," Kakashi says simply like it's normal that an entire district has been destroyed, "Now, like I said before, everything needs to be moved to the landfills."

Team Gai doesn't try to argue anymore after that and get to work cleaning up what's left of the Uchiha district.

Half way through their third day of work, Neji stumbles upon something that makes him realize he's cleaning up the remnants of the main house. Under some fallen boards, Neji finds a photograph. In it is the unmistakable visage of Uchiha Sasuke as a young child. Her hair is short and sticks up awkwardly in many different angles. There is also a couple in the photo that Neji determines to be the late Uchiha head and his wife. There's a fourth person in the photo but their face has been scratched out violently. Neji assumes it to be a sibling or cousin.

Kakashi had made it very clear that Sasuke doesn't want anything saved or recovered from the compound and would rather it all be buried. Neji doesn't think he can bring himself to destroy something so vital to another person's past, though. So, instead of adding it to the landfill, he stuffs it in his pocket and continues on like he hasn't seen anything.

...

It ends up taking them weeks to clean everything up. The Uchiha compound had housed nearly three hundred members and was large enough to be self-sufficient. Throughout the clean up, Neji continues to find bits and pieces of who the people that lived here were and who Sasuke once was. He isn't able so save those artifacts like he was the photograph, but the experience is humbling. It actually makes him appreciate his rotten family a little bit.

The Hyūga compound is nearly the same size that the Uchiha compound once was and Neji can't fathom losing all of that in a single day.

They never do end up seeing Sasuke once through out the whole clean up process. When they're finished, Kakashi just thanks them for their work and tells them that they probably won't be needed for upkeep in the compound any longer.

Neji goes home and hides the photograph he found of Sasuke and her family away with the few photos he has of his own family.

…

Yamato can never tell if he deserves Kakashi's blatant manipulations or not. (Though, Kakashi would insist that yes, he does.)

"Poor little Sasuke-chan lost everything in the fire," Kakashi bemoans sadly while regaling what's happened to the Uchiha compound, "I just want to help make her feel better about the whole thing."

This is practically evil what Kakashi is doing, playing on Yamato's soft spot that he has for Sasuke.

"Er, what did you have in mind?" The ANBU asks his former captain warily.

A bright and cheerful eye smile beams back at Yamato and he feels a bead of sweat run down his back at it, "Oh! I'm so glad you want to help!"

Those eye smiles never end well for Yamato.

Kakashi works Yamato practically to the bone of the next few weeks. The man is ruthless as he commands Yamato to make some over-the-top garden on the land that was once the Uchiha compound.

Yamato is practically sobbing for Kakashi to let him be done as his former captain makes him grow yet another fruit tree. He thinks if he ever has to use mokuton again it'll be too soon.

Kakashi claps his hands and pulls out a stack of papers from seemingly nowhere, "Perfect! Now to build the house!"

Yamato considers becoming a nukenin.

…

Kakashi doesn't make a big deal out of the garden and house he's had Yamato make for Sasuke. He simply gives her the key to the house and reminds her not to forget to water the flowers regularly.

He hopes this will be enough when he is forced to retreat back into ANBU in a few months. He hopes she can cope without him and Naruto around.

…

The line has been gone for months now and Sasuke is starting to feel like she might be losing it a little bit. Her team notices her obvious stress and they tiptoe around her like they're scared she's going to break at any moment. She would be annoyed by it if she herself didn't _feel_ like she was going to break at any moment. Kakashi making a garden and new house for her didn't even manage to help her spiraling mental health.

They're waiting outside of Tsunade's office to receive mission perimeters. Sasuke palms a pomegranate in her hand idly while she dutifully ignores the ghosts lingering about in the building. Naruto is chatting to her and Sakura about some prank he pulled and Sasuke makes sure to make interested noises occasionally so that he doesn't stop and actually try to engage with her.

Tsunade calls them in with an annoyed huff and Sasuke thinks that's great because it means she's going to practically throw their mission at them and send them away as quickly as possible. The less time she spends in this building filled with so many shinobi and their ghosts, the better.

Sasuke roams her eyes over the room in a practiced, cursory glance that she hardly even processes until she sees _him_.

The man who had been in a meeting with Tsunade, and holding up Team 7, is walking past them to leave and trailing behind him is the unmistakable visage of her cousin Shisui. His ghostly pale face turns to her and she nearly vomits when his eyeless sockets stare back. The pomegranate in her hand drops to the floor and the whole room goes still as they all turn to look at her.

Shisui is mouthing something at her and she mimics it back, trying to comprehend what he's saying to her.

When she figures it out, she turns a horrified gaze onto the man in bandages who has stopped his exit to stare curiously at her.

"Are you okay, Sasuke-chan?" Kakashi asks, resting a hand on her shoulder.

She raises a shaky finger and points it at the bandaged man and repeats what Shisui has just told her, "His eye. He has Uchiha Shisui's eye."

The man's only visible eye widens in surprise before a cold look passes over his face. Kakashi is on him quicker than anyone can react and Tsunade is trying to shout order back into her office.

They're all at a standstill with Sasuke flanked by shocked teammates, the bandaged man with Kakashi's kunai to his throat, and Tsunade with the wood of her desk cracking against her fist.

Sasuke turns to look at Shisui and lets out a tiny sob when he smiles at her, all kind and gentle like he did when he was alive. His body is glowing brighter and brighter until it vanishes and she knows that he has now moved on.

The entire room tries to figure out what she's looking at and the bandaged man smiles wickedly, "The boy is clearly deranged; I lost this eye many years ago."

She looks at the man and shakes her head, "Liar."

Tsunade waves her hand, "Well, if you have nothing to hide, show us."

The man looks like he wants to argue and Kakashi interjects before he can say anything, "You do seem very certain that Sasuke is not of sound mind so why don't you prove it to us."

Things devolve very quickly from there. The genin of Team 7 are tossed against the far wall to protect them from the sudden battle raging between the bandaged man, who's name is revealed to be Danzō, and the elite of Konoha's shinobi forces.

The bandages on his face come off at some point and he does in fact have a sharingan implanted in the socket. Sasuke throws up all over her legs when she sees it.

Danzō flees the village and Kakashi along with several ANBU teams have been sent after him.

…

Bonbon looks a bit shaken when he meets Orenji in the alleyway behind the Hokage tower.

"What did you just have me do?" he hisses out with wide eyes.

Orenji isn't listening to him, though and instead has his head cocked to the side, listening to what's happening in the tower above them.

A large explosion shakes everything around them but the orange tom-cat hardly reacts.

Orenji then turns to Bonbon, "You did good. I'll let you know when you're needed next. Go home and tell the others that they'll need to keep open ears for the next few weeks."

Bonbon jumps away to do just that, barely dodging some falling rubble from the shinobi fight happening above them. Orenji is full of secrets but Bonbon trusts his judgement. He doesn't know why Orenji asked him to cause a backup of meeting traffic to the Hokage, nor does he know why it's caused some sort of fight to break out, but Orenji looks certain that it was all according to plan.

Bonbon just wished he knew what that plan was.

…

Sasuke and her team are taken to T&I to give reports on the events of the afternoon.

She's alone in an interrogation room, separated from the others, when Yamanaka Inoichi and Morino Ibiki enter. She's thankful that there don't appear to be any ghosts following either of the men around, she doesn't think she could stomach looking at one right now.

Ibiki decides to take up residence in the corner of the room to watch while Inoichi takes the chair in front of Sasuke.

The blonde man smiles kindly at her, "Hello, Sasuke-chan. It's good to see you again."

She gives a tiny nod and he continues, "I'm sure you're pretty shaken up about what's happened."

She shrugs and in a fit of exhaustion can't stop herself from admitting, "It's okay. Shisui was able to complete his unfinished business."

Both men get confused looks on their faces and cock their heads to the side.

"What do you mean, 'unfinished business'?" Ibiki asks, finally pealing himself away from the corner to stand closer to Inoichi.

Sasuke realizes her mistake and flushes in embarrassment. She quickly tries to correct the situation, "Er, I just mean that we'd always thought Shisui killed himself but it's looking more and more like the real truth is that he was murdered or at least pillaged by that old guy. I'm sure his spirit can rest easy now that the truth is out."

The men share a look and Sasuke mentally curses herself for her inability to lie well; Kakashi was always telling her she was like an open book.

Inoichi leans forward and reaches across the table to grasp her hand into his. He gives a little squeeze, "We really need to know what happened today, because according to the reports you were displaying some odd behavior before the fight that occurred."

The room smells strongly of pomegranates and Sasuke has been so close to breaking for so long.

She grips the man's hand back and she's certain that the pressure must be uncomfortable for him for how hard she's doing it.

So quietly, that the men almost don't hear her, she says, "I've been trying to put it back."

Ibiki takes a seat in the other open chair and leans forward himself, "What have you been trying to put back?"

She hesitates and desperately wishes her cats were here to talk for her.

"The line in my head," she knows she'll sound crazy no matter what, "It's been gone for awhile, now, and when it's gone I can see stuff that other people can't see."

Inoichi's face is pinched in a deep frown and he looks concerned, "What do you see?"

She starts to hyperventilate and they have to calm her down before she can get an answer out, "Dead people? They follow alive people around sometimes to complete some unfinished task or objective."

"You saw Shisui today," Ibiki says and she nods.

"He didn't have any eyes," she says past a sob, pulling her hand away from Inoichi's to wipe the tears off of her face, "And his body was all twisted and wrong looking."

"You saw what you believe to be the spirit of Uchiha Shisui following around Shimura Danzō?" Inoichi tries to clarify and Sasuke nods, "And this apparition communicated with you in some way to tell you that Danzō had Uchiha Shisui's sharingan?"

She bites at her lip, and with shame flowing off of her in waves says, "I know I sound crazy."

Inoichi winces and admits as gently as possible, "It's an unusual circumstance. You'll need to be put through some tests so we can corroborate your story."

She nods and slumps down into her chair.

The men stand up to leave and Ibiki pauses in the doorway, "Is there anyone following us?"

She looks up at him and the man's face is stoney and void but she can see the apprehension dancing behind his eyes. He looks relieved when she shakes her head no.

…

The teams sent after Danzō come back victorious and give Sasuke a sealed scroll containing Shisui's eye.

Kakashi is bloody and tired and he takes a heavy seat across from her, "He had other eyes but we were only able to retrieve this one."

Sasuke looks down at the scroll before tucking it away safely into her hoody pocket.

"Thank you."

He nods and reaches out to ruffle her hair, "Good job on figuring it all out."

…

For safety, Team 7 decides to spend the next few days staying with Sasuke in her new house. However, the team stops when they get to the compound.

"Hey, where is everyone?" Naruto asks, peering around trees and bushes for any sign of the countless cats that are always present.

Sasuke is frowning and looking around herself, "I'm not sure. Maybe all the fighting earlier spooked them."

Kakashi nods, "We did go pretty close to here when we were chasing him."

The team accepts that the cats are just hiding and continue on with their night.

…

Down below Konoha, in the bowels of the mountain, a large group of masked shinobi is gathered. They are huddled together, whispering in harsh quick tones and so they don't notice the intruders until it's too late.

One tosses a kunai at an orange, furry creature that dodges it far faster than his large body would suggest. Eerie yellow eyes catch what little light there is down there and it makes them glow out from the darkness.

The group of masked shinobi are tense.

The creature is an orange cat that ambles his way out of the shadows and looks up at them with toothy smile. All around the shinobi, yowls of hundreds of cats ring out and their glowing eyes surround them.

"Hello, Root," the orange cat speaks clearly, "My name is Orenji. Your master is dead."


	18. Uzumaki Kuriko

Sasuke settles into the wooden chair nervously while shinobi bustle around her, getting ready for the procedure. One approaches her and starts securing her wrists and ankles to the chair and it takes Kakashi's comforting hand on her shoulder to stop the oncoming panic attack.

"Are the restraints really necessary? Sasuke is doing this voluntarily," Kakashi asks, his voice sounding pleasant, but with an undercurrent of a growl that means he doesn't approve.

Inoichi's face pinches into an uncomfortable grimace, "Persons can tend to try and move about during the procedure and end up hurting themselves. This is a precaution for her safety, I assure you."

Kakashi doesn't look like he believes that bullshit at all but doesn't argue and instead focuses his attention back to Sasuke.

"I'll be just in the other room watching," he tells her seriously, "I promise I won't let anything bad happen to you."

Sasuke knows that already and she does admit that his presence makes her feel safer. However, it isn't long at all until all unauthorized personal are being ushered to the viewing room, leaving Sasuke alone with Inoichi and several Yamanaka clan members. Inoichi tries to smile at her but it looks tight, like he's as nervous as she is.

"To begin, we're just going to ask you some basic questions," Inoichi explains as he starts doing hand signs for a jutsu, "It'll feel like you have a really bad head cold at first; don't fight the feeling, just let it happen."

Sasuke nods shakily as Inoichi reaches forward and places his hand to her forehead. It does suddenly feel as though Sasuke has a head cold as this uncomfortable pressure blooms just behind her nose and eyes. She doesn't understand how she's supposed to not fight such a feeling, but she does her best to stay relaxed.

"Is your name Uchiha Sasuke?" one of the Yamanaka clan members asks.

Sasuke licks her lips, "Yes."

"Are you a genin?" he asks.

"Yes."

Now, Sasuke is beginning to feel dizzy, like when she accidentally bashed her forehead into Naruto's that one time. Inoichi tells her to breathe deeply and to relax. Sasuke tries her best.

"Do you have an older sibling?"

Sasuke flinches at the question and Inoichi's hand tightens to a nearly painful degree on her forehead so she tries to keep still, "Yes."

"Alright, Sasuke, we're going to begin."

That's all the warning she gets before she feels like she's falling and then suddenly she's in her worst nightmare.

Gasping for air, covered in blood, Itachi's menacing form standing above her; Sasuke doesn't want this. Just like how Ino did it, though, the spell is broken and Itachi's form fades away, leaving Sasuke's trembling one behind.

Inoichi and the other Yamanaka clan members are standing before her, trying not to stare at the murder scene but failing.

Inoichi frowns when he looks down at her and she curls her arms around herself protectively.

"G-go away," she squeaks up at them with a glare. She suddenly can't remember why they're here but she knows they don't belong.

One of the Yamanaka is frowning at the single set of doors at the far end of the room; they're cracked open.

"Why is there only one doorway?" he asks Inoichi who has also moved his attention to the open doors.

Sasuke's tiny form stands up and tries to push against Inoichi's legs, "Go away! You don't belong here!"

A creaking of floorboards and the swish of blue fabric as a form moves past the doorway. Sasuke shrinks away from the doors; stumbling to press herself against the wall. She looks up at the strangers in her mind seriously, "Go away or else."

The other Yamanaka clan members are looking fearfully at the doorway, "W-who was that Inoichi-sama?"

Inoichi is already moving to follow and Sasuke stays firmly where she's at, shouting, "You're not supposed to go that way!"

The doors close behind the Yamanaka men.

…

Uchiha Sasuke's mind is a fractured mess of odd loops and things that don't belong. As soon as Inoichi and his men pass the threshold of the doors, they're suddenly face to face with another set. It goes like that for a while, opening and closing doors only to be faced with more doors.

Some of the doors are lovingly cared for with carvings or paintings on them. Others are abandoned and crumbling away to dust in the recesses of her mind. Sasuke only ever keeps simple or small things behind her doors, things like memories of an older brother cleaning scraped knees or of schoolyard fights with other children.

Inoichi tries to open some decrepit looking door that creaks loudly as he forces it open. Behind that one is a scrambled memory from her time living in the compound alone.

The group ultimately separates to go through Sasuke's memories in search of the strange phenomenon she speaks of where she sees ghosts.

Yamanaka Michi is the one who finds the first memory to give Sasuke's story some credibility.

Inoichi never personally met Hatake Sakumo but he saw him once or twice around the village when he was child. The man is strikingly handsome with high cheek bones and kind eyes. All of that beauty is offset to the abdominal wound he's sporting that has his small intestine leaking from it. More and more ghosts paint Sasuke's memories the further they delve and Inoichi feels pity for the girl. What a horrible burden to bare.

Then, Inoichi stumbles upon a set of doors he's certain he wasn't supposed to find. He hears screaming coming from the other side and every once in awhile the door rattles in it's frame. Sasuke's warning to not venture into her mind sits heavy on his conscious.

He opens them anyways.

…

Uzumaki Kuriko is a normal civilian teenager. She's tall for her age and has a round, pale face like the moon. Her mother tells her she's pretty but she still can't help but wish her hair was more red than orange or that her face didn't have freckles.

Yes, she's average in all the ways an Uzushio teenager is. She thinks about boys and enjoys spending time with her friends and her life is so very perfect she thinks.

She's alone when she learns that perfect lives can end. Her mother has gone to the market to get ingredients for dinner for that evening and Kuriko has stayed behind and gotten started on making the rice and such. She's just started washing the rice when the building around her shudders. Startled, Kuriko drops the bowl of rice into the sink and grips the counter.

She counts in her head, one, two, and before she can get to three, there's another violent quake that sends her stumbling to the floor. That's when she hears the screaming.

Kuriko rushes to the window and sees large plumes of smoke billowing up into the blue sky and is frightened when a shinobi goes racing past her window towards whatever is happening. Kuriko isn't sure, but something tells her that she needs to leave and she needs to do it now.

Gathering up her satchel she rushes to the back of the apartment where the fire escape is and shimmies her way down the rickety wooden thing to the alley below. People are running in the streets, screaming and Kuriko finds herself too afraid to leave the alley.

Another explosion occurs nearby and the buildings above her shed some of their dust and bricks down into the alleyway. Kuriko ducks behind a dumpster for safety.

She doesn't know how long she sits there, cowering behind the large metal bin, but she hears whatever is happening getting closer and closer to her until suddenly she starts to see red fluid running between the bricks.

Kuriko tucks her knees and feet closer to herself to avoid touching the blood and buries her face into the fabric of her blue dress.

Uzumaki Kuriko was a perfectly average teenager living a normal, average life until she wasn't anymore.

Uzumaki Kuriko dies that day in that dirty alley behind that smelly dumpster. A shinobi with a mist headband doesn't so much as blink when she begs him to spare her and he moves on quickly after cutting her chest and neck open.

…

Inoichi stumbles back from Sasuke violently, falling to the floor and scooting away from her as if she were some horrid enemy. It takes him a long time to remember himself amongst those memories; to remember that he isn't some little redheaded teenager from Uzushio.

When he does remember himself, that's when he realizes what he's just seen and what this all means.

Someone touches his shoulder and he looks up into the concerned gaze of Kakashi. The procedure has been stopped and all the other Yamanaka are watching him with wide, worried eyes.

Sasuke awakens from the procedure and her eyes immediately find his. She glares deep into his soul and past a dry throat says, "I told you, you weren't supposed to go that way."

…

Inoichi's confidant will always be Nara Shikaku. The man just understands Inoichi to a degree that no one else on earth will and so when Inoichi shows up at his house, looking like he's just been through a war, Shikaku lets him in.

Inoichi is uncharacteristically silent for a long time while he stares down into the tea he's been served. Shikaku waits patiently for him to find his words.

"I think I saw something today that I wasn't supposed to," Inoichi tells Shikaku when he finally collects his thoughts.

Shikaku hums and leans his elbow on the table in front of them, "You'll have to be more specific than that, Inoichi."

Inoichi quickly drinks the tea in his cup as his throat feels suddenly dry in that moment, then he looks at Shikaku and asks, "What are your thoughts on reincarnation?"

Shikaku lets out a slow breath and leans back on his hands while he thinks, "The thought is nice, but there's no way to know for sure if that's what happens after we die."

Inoichi, looking rather crazed leans across the table and grips Shikaku's shoulders, his nails digging past the yukata he's wearing into his skin.

"It's real," Inoichi says giving Shikaku a shake that ensures the other man is aware of his seriousness, "I've seen it in Uchiha Sauske's memories!"

Shikaku, as gently as he can, removes his friend's hands from his shoulders, "What do you mean, Inoichi?"

Then, Inoichi tells him all about Sasuke's ghosts and her too-vivid memories of being a girl named Uzumaki Kuriko.

…

Sasuke can't stand the way high ranking shinobi look at her now. Some look at her hungrily, as if she were some forbidden weapon just waiting to be used. Others look at her in awe, like she's a gift unto Konoha. Then, there are the ones who look at her in pity, like they feel bad for the burden she carries.

She hates all of them and the way they look at her. But she especially hates the way that Yamanaka Inoichi looks at her. He's afraid of her in visible ways that are unbecoming of a shinobi of his rank; so that must mean she's the scariest thing he's ever encountered. He doesn't look her in the eye anymore and doesn't let himself stand too close to her.

They want to test her— they want to test those Before memories. Kakashi hovers now. Though, Sasuke is noticing that he's spending quite a bit of time off doing other things and being completely unreachable to Team 7. Despite how busy he clearly is, he still insists on being there for Sasuke as much as possible.

They're sending Sasuke and a few high ranking shinobi on some super secret mission pertaining to her Before memories. They refuse to tell her anything about where they're going or what they're doing. Even Kakashi has been tight lipped about it.

Sasuke is scared but she tries to keep her spine straight and her chin high. She's tried everything in her being to bury those strange Before memories for years now. Her village wants her to look closely at them.

They don't let her bring her cats along.

…

Gon isn't sure what to think. On the one hand a part of him is grateful that a monster like Shimura Danzō is dead. Despite Danzō's best efforts, Gon was never able to erase his hate for the man.

However, Gon doesn't know that this stray nin-neko is much better.

Orenji is a force to be reckoned with, and is far more intelligent than any cat has a right to be.

The entirety of Root is desperate though, without a leader they're nothing. This orange cat knows this.

"I'll be needing all of you Root shinobi to run a mission for me," Orenji says to them seriously on the third day after Danzo's death. Orenji and several other cats present several litters of kittens, already old enough that they're walking and free from their mother's milk.

"Root," Orenji says while his yellow eyes slide to look at the thirty or so kittens lined up next to him, "Meet your newest agents."

Gon isn't sure what to think anymore. Instead, he'll just do what he always does best and bury that part deep down and do what he's told- even if it's some strange mission to drop kittens off in various parts of the world.

Orenji has a look in his eyes that reminds Gon of a demon.

…


	19. The Waves

Naruto's face is pinched up into a pout that he's directing squarely at Tsunade.

"What the heck? Where's Sasuke-chan and Kakashi-sensei?" he demands petulantly. Sakura, while attempting to look more mature, still sends an obviously unhappy look to Yamato (formerly Tenzo) and Hyūga Neji.

Tsunade doesn't deign to give Naruto's brattiness her full attention and is instead shuffling paperwork around on her desk, "Busy. Now get going before I kick your scrawny little ass."

Yamato is smart enough to know that the Hokage will follow through on that threat and hauls Naruto up by the back of his jacket and out into the hall while sheepishly bowing. Neji and Sakura follow after reluctantly.

Once out in the hall, Yamato releases Naruto and eyes the B-ranked mission scroll in his other hand.

"I can't say I've ever been to the Land of Snow before," Yamato says and then as a means to comfort the clearly unhappy genin tells them, "Kakashi and Sasuke-chan might join us later on if they finish their own mission quickly."

That placates Naruto, Sakura, and surprisingly Neji for the moment but Yamato knows this mission is going to be an absolute headache.

…

Sasuke hates boats. She hates the motion sickness, she hates the musty smell they all have, and most of all she hates the ocean.

This isn't the first time she's seen the ocean, her family used to vacation in the Crescent Moon Kingdom when she was a child. Sasuke doesn't remember hating the ocean but when her and the team she's with get to it, there's a burning hatred that makes her feel like she's choking. If she could set the ocean ablaze she would.

Kakashi is quite tense as well, enough so that it's affecting Sasuke. She wants to try and relax but just looking at him has her winding up tighter and tighter. She wonders what will happen when she snaps.

Kakashi is the only shinobi she's met before on this team. The others are these visibly strong men who Sasuke has a feeling are actually ANBU.

Two of them are Yamanaka, one must be a civilian born, and the last is a Nara.

Sasuke thinks that they're just going to be following the coast line when they reach the ocean but is dismayed when they lead her to a dock with a ship parked at it.

"I don't want to," Sasuke starts to say but is cut off by a firm hand on the back of her neck from the Nara as he pushes her closer and closer to the dock.

Kakashi is glaring at the man and Sasuke swears she hears him growl at some point, but Kakashi doesn't do anything to stop what's happening.

Once they're actually on the boat, the Nara finally lets her go but he and the others always keep her within their direct line of sight.

Kakashi, sensing her impending panic attack, tries to distract her.

"Here," he says while digging through his mission pack and pulling out a pomegranate, "I packed quite a few for you."

Sasuke doesn't say anything as she accepts the fruit. She doesn't bother to eat it either, instead just rolling it back and forth in her hands.

At some point she tries to ask how long they'll be sailing or where they're going but the men all ignore her, pretending as if they can't hear her.

Kakashi looks guilty.

Sasuke watches the waves beat against the side of the ship and wishes the ocean would swallow her up.

…

There isn't much to do on the ship while they film, Naruto discovers. It was interesting for the first few hours, but it got boring pretty quickly and now he's just wandering the deck, trying to think of something to do.

Most of his thoughts end up trailing back to Sasuke. Mostly about how she looks really refined when she actually brushes her hair or how she smells so sweet like the fruit she's always eating.

Naruto has already decided to try and find some sort of gift or souvenir to bring back to her. He wonders if she'd like some pretty jewelry or maybe a dress. Girls like that stuff, right?

"Ne, Sakura-chan," Naruto asks, interrupting a conversation between her and Neji, "What sort of gift do you think Sasuke-chan would like?"

Neji visibly perks up at the mention of their missing teammate.

Sakura taps her chin thoughtfully while she thinks, "You can't ever go wrong with things like jewelry or dresses but Sasuke-chan is rich, she can buy that anywhere."

Naruto sighs dejectedly while he leafs through the few bills that are in his wallet. Gama-chan has been really skinny lately.

"Perhaps she might like something that is a Snow Country product. Surely they have some sort of item that they're well known for making," Neji pitches in wisely, "At least, that's what I was going to get for her."

Naruto nods along excitedly until that last statement sinks in, "Yeah that's a— hey wait, what?"

Then Neji smirks in that infuriating way of his, like Naruto is stupid, "I plan to also get a gift for Sasuke-san. I plan to ask her on a date when we return to the village."

"Huh?!" Sakura and Naruto both exclaim in varying degrees of disbelief and outrage.

"No way you bastard! Sasuke-chan is dating me!" Naruto shouts while being bodily restrained by an exasperated looking Sakura.

Neji just looks all the more delighted at the prospect of telling Naruto about all the ways he plans to win her over. However, before he can boast his plans, Yamato dejectedly interjects from the other side of the ship, "Come on guys, quit messing around! I can't be the only one on duty!"

He goes ignored.

"No way would Sasuke-chan ever date a guy like you!" Naruto declares with certainty.

"Well, we'll see about that," Neji says with his nose in the air, "I'll bet that I get her a far better present than an idiot like you."

In her mind, Sakura bemoans that her teammate has boys that are fighting over her and she isn't even here to see it.

That lucky bitch.

…

Gon furiously scrubs his armor in the stream he's found. The cat vomit staining the thick fabric is being particularly stubborn. He sends a baleful look to the three kittens responsible for it over his shoulder.

The baby cats don't seem to notice and tumble around cutely in the moss on the bank. He goes back to scrubbing with a scowl.

Gon hates cats.

Thankfully his mission is almost complete. He's supposed to deposit these kittens in different locations in Ame and then he's done. He's not really sure why spy operatives are being placed in Ame of all places but it's not his position to argue.

Realizing this armor is a lost cause that's been forever stained, he puts it back on and gathers up the kittens into his arms. His nose scrunches up as their downy soft fur sets off his allergies.

Gon returns to his mission while he wonders how hard it would be to fake his own death.

…

The stars out on the ocean are really something else. Sasuke feels like she's looking into another dimension when she looks up into that vast, sparkling void.

She can't sleep and the sounds of the ocean are far from soothing. Kakashi has already tried a few times to get her to go below deck and retire for the night but he gave up when she refused to acknowledge him. The specter that follows him around has decided to keep some type of vigil over her as he stands at her back.

Sasuke suspects that he's irritated with Kakashi about something.

She turns to look at him and catches him staring at her with some unreadable look.

"I'm scared," she whispers to him while tugging fretfully at her hair, "I want to go home."

The ghost reaches out to touch her but his hand goes right through her and she shivers as a sudden chill washes over her. He quickly retracts his hand back to his person, looking uncertain and tense.

Then an angry look crosses his pale features. He starts pacing all around the deck of the ship, running his hands through his hair and kicking things he passes. At some point Kakashi and one of the Yamanaka men come up on deck.

Kakashi is scratching his face and yawning, "Why are you stomping around up here?"

Sasuke gives him a confused look, she hasn't moved from this spot for over an hour.

"I wasn't stomping."

Then her eyes trail to the specter that's stopped his angry pacing to look at the two men. He gets this contemplative look on his face and seemingly with the entirety of his energy shoves a lantern off of the railing. It goes clattering to the ground with a loud slap and both Sasuke and the men jump in surprise.

Sasuke points to the ghost, "It wasn't me it was him."

They obviously can't see what she can but the men do go a bit pale at that.

"There's a ghost on this ship?" the Yamanaka asks with a gulp.

Sasuke nods, "He's upset about something."

Kakashi quickly comes towards her, wrapping a protective arm around her shoulders. His eyes are scanning the deck and he starts ushering her to the hatch. She realizes he's trying to protect her but that's not how ghosts work.

She says as much out loud, "He's just going to follow us wherever we go."

Then she pushes Kakashi's arm off and backs up to where she'd been previously standing, "I'm not tired."

Kakashi looks around the deck once more before nervously asking, "Is he going to hurt you?"

Sasuke shakes her head; this ghost seems to like her.

"Do you know who it is?" the Yamanaka man asks. She thinks his name might me Toru. Or maybe that was the Nara's name.

Sasuke shakes her head again. She honestly has no idea who the ghost is, just that he has some kind of connection to Kakashi.

The men don't go back to bed after that, instead staying up on deck with her until dawn.

The ghost is more see-through than normal after his stunt and he parks himself firmly next to Kakashi and doesn't move again. Sasuke wonders if it took away some part of him to do that, like his energy or something.

Sasuke spends the majority of the day contemplating that and wondering if he'd be willing to do some experiments with her later when everyone is asleep.

A sharp whistle from the bird nest has Sasuke breaking out of that thought. The Nara is up there and he calls down to them, "Turn the ship 10 degrees to the left, there's an eddy coming up."

The two Yamanaka men and Kakashi start bustling about to do that and Sasuke peers over the edge of the railing curiously. There is a whirlpool coming up and as they pass it Sasuke stares down into the churning, hypnotic waters. That's the first of many after that as they have to constantly and carefully have to maneuver around countless whirlpools. Some of them are massive and they spray water up onto Sasuke's face when she peers down at them.

Something inside her is screaming. The closer they get to wherever they're going, the more Sasuke wants to turn tail and run the other way. At some point she can't even stand to look out at the water anymore and she curls up against the railing of the ship, pressing her face into her knees.

Sasuke has no idea where they're taking her but she knows it won't be good.

Another sharp whistle is followed by the shout of "Prepare for landfall!"


End file.
